Dov Moran has told "Globes" that he has closed KeyView, 18 months after launching the start-up, which offered a smart computer keyboard with a color screen, called SmartType. The serial entrepreneur was confident of KeyView's success, but it failed to catch on.
Moran invested $2 million in KeyView, which was founded in 2010, and had nine employees. Moran served as chairman.
"Thousands of people around the world bought the product. There was feedback from people who said that it saved their lives, but I wasn’t satisfied with it as it was," said Moran. "Besides, I concluded that the home desktop market would disappear in a few years. Instead of starting development of a new product, I decided to close shop. Sometimes, you have to know when to say, 'enough'."
The SmartType, which cost NIS 400, included a screen on its upper side, which could be seen while typing, thereby avoiding typos, changes in language, and misspellings for people unable to touch type. The color screen also showed new email titles, the time, and the weather.
Dov Moran was founder and chairman of msystems, which invented the DiskOnKey, before being acquired by SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) for $1.6 billion. He also was founder and chairman of modu, which developed the world's smalled mobile phone, but failed commercially.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 28, 2014
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