A Steve Jobs rival who hit hard times in Singapore makes remarkable comeback with Super X-Fi
- After settling a patent infringement case with Apple over a decade ago, Singaporean entrepreneur is back with new ‘holographic audio’ card
On October 11, 2011, as tributes to Steve Jobs continued to pour in across the world, one man took out a US$16,000 full-page newspaper ad in Singapore to pay his respects to the Apple co-founder who had passed away. It said:
“Thank you for the great lessons. Thank you for the great products. Thank you for bringing a bit of us to the whole world.’’
It was signed: “Sim Wong Hoo, Chairman & CEO, Creative Technology Ltd.’’
It was intriguing to many who picked up the paper that morning. Sim had been a household name in Singapore for his Sound Blaster cards that brought audio to more than 400 million personal computers. He had also gone to war with Jobs over their portable music players. As hostility escalated in 2006, he sued Apple for patent infringements over the iPod.
Negotiations with Jobs were tense, Sim recalls, and his American adversary did most of the talking. In the end, Sim walked away with a US$100 million settlement. “Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent,’’ Jobs said in a statement at the time.