Martin King, pioneer of T9 text input, dies at age 60
updated 09:50 pm EDT, Thu September 23, 2010
Inventor founded recent Exbiblio startup
Tech industry veteran Martin King, best known as the co-inventor of Tegic Communications' T9 predictive text technology, has died at age 60. The inventor helped pioneer the popular software that allows cellphone users to quickly compose text messages using 9-digit numerical keypads, without pressing each button multiple times for each letter.
"Martin was a very, very rare and unusual person," former Tegic CEO Bill Valenti told the Puget Sound Business Journal. "He combined the brilliance and curiosity of an Einstein with the heart and compassion of a Mother Teresa."
King founded Tegic Communications with fellow inventor Cliff Kushler, before the company was sold to AOL for $350 million. Kushler went on to develop another predictive input technology, Swype, that helps users quickly write messages by sliding fingers between letters on a virtual QWERTY keyboard, rather than individually tapping each key on the touchscreen.
Despite a long battle with cancer, attributed to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, King recently founded a startup named Exbiblio. The company focuses on technology that takes several words captured from a printed document and locates the complete text on the Internet. King built the company with a vision of environmental sustainability, as 15 percent of the equity stake has been reserved for environmental and wildlife charities.
