T9 creator Martin King passes away

It might be seriously frustrating and annoying for some users in its implementation, and might constantly substitute the wrong word into your text messages, but there can be no doubt that the T9 keyboard revolutionised the way we interacted with mobile phones that that it can be argued that T9 is one of, if not the biggest single factor in the success of the mobile phone.

Now the co-creator of T9, Martin King has passed away after a long battle with cancer.  T9 was the premier product of start-up company Tegic.  King hadn’t been involved with Tegic for some time because of illness but was there at the very beginning and saw his creation picked up by the likes of Morotola at first, and then every mobile manufacturer on the planet.

“It leaves a big hole in the Seattle tech community because Martin was known as a real innovator,” said Bill Valenti, the former chief executive of Tegic. “Martin was a very, very rare and unusual person. He combined the brilliance and curiosity of an Einstein with the heart and compassion of a Mother Teresa.” Valenti added that he’s never before met anyone with that “breadth of character.”

Tegic communications was founded in Seattle in 1995 by King and Cliff Kushler.  It was later sold to AOL for $350 Million and is now a part of Nuance Communications.

King served with the US Army in Vietnam as an air traffic controller and later attend Cornell University to study physics.  His career began developing technologies to help people with disabilities.

There can be no doubt that his most famous creation has been used by over three-quarters of all the people on Earth.  A full obituary of Martin King can be found at TechFlash.

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Author: Mike Halsey MVP, Sunday September 26, 2010 -
Tags:martin king, mobile phone, seattle, t9, tegic