Matias Corporation

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Matias Corporation

Type
Founded	1990
Headquarters	Vaughan, Canada
Key people	Edgar Matias Steve McGowan James McGowan
Industry	Computer peripherals
Website	www.matias.ca

Matias Corporation is a computer accessories manufacturer, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The company was founded on 3 August 1990 by Edgar Matias, Steve McGowan, and James McGowan.

1 Products
- 1.1 Half Keyboard
  - 1.1.1 Background
- 1.2 Tactile Pro Keyboard
2 External links

[edit] Products

[edit] Half Keyboard

Matias' first hardware product was the Half Keyboard, a one-handed keyboard that exploits users' existing touch-typing skills. It can be learned in a matter of minutes.

[edit] Background

Inventor Edgar Matias explains how the idea came about:

"The Half Keyboard was conceived as a reaction to the Microwriter.

In the fall of 1984, I read a short blurb in a magazine describing this strange new device called a Microwriter. It was a portable dedicated word processor, equipped with a one-handed chording keyboard. It had only 6 keys, which users typed on with one hand.

It was intriguing, but the chord keyboard sounded very impractical to me at the time. I didn’t think most people would be willing to learn a whole new keyboard layout. A week later, most of the Half Keyboard design just popped into my head.

Derived from the conventional QWERTY keyboard, the Half Keyboard allowed touch typists to enter text with one hand, without having to learn a whole new keyboard layout. Instead, by using a slightly different typing technique, their existing skills simply “transferred". Similar to how bicycle-riding skills make learning to ride a motorcycle easier, standard two-handed typing skills make learning one-handed Half Keyboard typing easier.

Not much happened in the subsequent 5 years. My notes sat in a drawer and I pretty much forgot about them.

In 1989, with the industry moving towards increased portability, the time seemed right to blow the dust off my five-year-old idea. On August 29, I applied for a Canadian patent and the clock started ticking. I had exactly one year in which to attract enough attention (and money) to apply for patents in other countries. After a year, the idea would become public domain in every country that I hadn’t applied for a patent (i.e., almost everywhere).

I wrote letters to all the “pocket computer” manufacturers (that’s what they were called back then), and several actually replied. The big companies sent back letters thanking me for my interest in their products, but regretfully stating that it was company policy not to accept “external submissions.” Two of the smaller companies showed an interest and information was exchanged, but in the end neither was willing to take it on. So, shortly before the year was up, I incorporated. I sold shares to various friends and relatives, and Matias Corp. was born.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that “pocket computers” weren’t being used as general machines like other computers. They were being used for such things as reading gas meters, and collecting field data. Typing speed wasn’t much of an issue in those applications.

The other thing I didn't realize was that it would take another 10 years for the hardware keyboard to make it to market!”

[edit] Tactile Pro Keyboard

The company's first commercially successful product was award-winning Tactile Pro Keyboard. It was built from the same premium keyswitch technology used in the legendary Apple Extended Keyboard, widely viewed as the best keyboard Apple ever made.

The Tactile Pro was later discontinued, and replaced by the improved Tactile Pro 2.0.