The tech pioneer behind the Sound Blaster dies

Singaporean inventor and technology pioneer Sim Wong Hoo died on January 4 at the age of 67. Sim may not be a household name now, but he founded Creative Technology (known as Creative Labs in the US), the company behind the Sound Blaster brand, or sound cards, back in 1981. Sound Blasters were one of the first sound cards available to consumers, and there was a time when you had to make sure your system could use them if you wanted to listen to music and play games.

Sim started his business in the US, started selling Sound Blasters a few years later, and then Creative became the first Singaporean company to be listed on the NASDAQ exchange.Integrating the sound card into the motherboard ended the popularity of the Sound Blaster, but Bloomberg These cards are said to provide audio for more than 400 million PCs.

Under his leadership, Creative also launched a line of MP3 players, while Sim tried to compete with Apple to replace the iPod by spending $100 million on advertising and marketing. In 2006, Creative sued Apple for infringement of its portable media system menu patent. The two companies have since filed more lawsuits against each other, before Apple settled with Creative and paid the company $100 million for the technology outlined in its patents.

Creative confirmed Sim’s death on its website, calling him “a visionary inventor and entrepreneur with a voice for the PC.” In a press release issued by the company, interim CEO Song Siow Hui said in a statement:

“I have known and worked with Mr Sim for over 30 years. This is a sad and sudden development and we are very disappointed, especially since Mr Sim and I have recently had extensive discussions about the future direction of the company. In these During the discussion, Mr. Sim was full of fresh eyes, even the night before, he had a long discussion with the engineering team and planned to meet with the online sales team the next day. Now the best thing to do is to ensure the continuation of the company smooth running of the company, as well as the execution and realization of Mr. Sim’s vision and strategy for the company.”

Source link