The
sparse, light-brown hair, high, time-worn forehead, and the
creases of his face, especially around the eyes, did not belie
his age. His eyes, more gray than blue, burned with the
determination of a college graduate who, with diploma fresh in
hand, sprints eagerly toward The Challenge. He was forty-two.
Tensions began to surface just six months after that cover shot
appeared on newsstands, when after its introduction, the Joey
personal interactive assistant met with only mild commercial
success. Though the device won accolades from the industry for
Peter and his team of engineers for its breakthrough technology,
buyers were skeptical. The dream that Peter shared with Matthew
in their first meeting was to make the Joey the hottest-selling
portable computer device in the world, displacing market share
completely dominated by Wallaby's biggest competitor,
International Computer Products.
The dream was never realized. Though users of ICP's own
best-selling portable computer admitted that the Joey was
technically more innovative and expertly designed, there were few
key software applications available for it at the time of its
introduction. At the root of the delay was a frustrating paradox:
While the Joey was by far the easiest to use portable interactive
assistant, it was also the most difficult computer to develop
software programs for.
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