The Handspring Story: Renegades, Aspirations, and Disasters

Access the Event at 7pm! 

Click Here to Access the Program 

A decade before Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, a tiny team of renegades attempted to build the modern smartphone.

The 30-minute documentary Springboard: The Secret History of the First Real Smartphone tells their story, complete with big aspirations, bad decisions, and outside disasters.

Join us for a screening of the documentary and a panel discussion featuring Host Nilay Patel with Dieter Bohn and two key players in the story: Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan.

What You’ll Learn

• Dive into the rat race of the late ‘90s internet, before the tech monoliths were set in stone and when many futures seemed possible.
• Hear the story of the people whose ideas are inside the phones you use every day.
• Learn how what Donna Dubinsky calls “the biggest mistake of my career” forced the company to find a buyer.

Why You Should Join Us

Nearly forgotten by history, a little startup called Handspring tried to make the future before it was ready.  Their story casts light on questions that continue to impact technology today:

• If a company’s products don’t succeed, is the company a failure?
• If a company goes out of business, does that mean they have the wrong ideas?
• What are the risks and rewards of being early to market?

Agenda

6 p.m. Core Reception (Invite-Only) 
7 p.m. Program Begins Live and on Virtual  

Attending in Person

We’re excited to welcome everyone back in-person! Everyone who enters CHM must be vaccinated or a, including all staff, volunteers, and visitors. Please review our health and safety guidelines prior to visiting the Museum.

MISS THE EVENT?

You can catch the full program here and enjoy reading the blog recap here.

Watch the Trailer