I want to try to summarize what we know so far. Feel free to add/correct me.
-> Around the middle of February 2005, it was noticed that FingerWorks Support was not returning email messages/support requests in a timely manner. Inquiries were made to the Official Forums, with no responses from anyone from FingerWorks.
-> Around the beginning of March 2005, users started posting to the Official Forums that many retailers were no longer stocking FingerWorks products (both TouchStreams and iGesturePads). They were being told that the products were discontinued, or that it would take several weeks to reorder items.
-> At the same time, some resellers were inflating the price of the products they had in stock. On March 9, 2005, a user reported that Human Solutions was charging $419 for the TouchStream LP (it normally retails for $339). 5 days later Human Solutions raised the price to $449. The last reported price, as of April 19, 2005, was $480, with no stock.
-> By the end of March 2005/beginning of April 2005, rumors were rampant about the demise of FingerWorks. fingerworks, the Administrative user, reported that they were in the process of moving facilities. He also mentioned in one of his posts:
Interestingly enough, it seems that that post was edited at a later point to read:"Things are still up in the air. The full support team should be rehired this week though."
Luckily, the following post in the thread does show the original unedited quote."Things are still up in the air. The full support team should be working this week though."
-> On April 21, 2005, user "tubaman" posted some interesting info:
It has been speculated that the company that bought the technology could be Apple or Wacom.Check out what Coates Analytics Group, a company that provides financial analysis services, has to say about their newest advisor, the *former* CEO and chairman of Fingerworks, Inc. (he was still the CEO during the 2005 International CES):
"Jeffrey White was most recently the CEO and Chairman of FingerWorks, Inc. a privately held producer of Computer Software and Hardware targeted at the input systems market. In this capacity, he successfully transformed a fledging startup into a leading edge provider of input technologies, which was ultimately acquired by a multi-billion dollar supplier of IT software and hardware for a price equal to 25 times revenue. "
Quoted from the following web page:
http://www.outsearchinc.com/about.aspx
The way the business has been run recently, maybe they were just bought for the technology?
-> Additionally, right around April 19, 2005, it seems that the Official Forums went into a strange state where new posts could be added, but the forums wouldn't show that they were added, at least on the front page. Any replies to existing posts were accepted, but the timestamps on the posts were not updating to reflect the new replies. It's almost as if some parts of the Official Forums were put into a "read-only" mode. Because of this, user routb decided to create a Yahoo Group discussion, to make sure the little FingerWorks Community survives. From discussions about the undesirableness of Yahoo Groups, user TorbenGB created the current wiki/forums at http://fingerfans.dreamhosters.com.
And we are now here.
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Updated June 13, 2005
-> On April 28, 2005, -jeffB made a post about the official forums being restored to a working state... though that doesn't last long.
-> On June 7, 2005, gregvr noted that noted a "ghost" admin had gone through and removed all the drop-down menu/tabs on the FingerWorks homepage, except the drop-down for "Customer Service".
-> A few hours later the same day, drew posted that the official Fingerworks Support Forums is now dead (put into "read-only" mode).
-> Later that week, on June 11, 2005, daniel1113 let's us know that FingerWorks has finally made official what we had all knew already: "FingerWorks has ceased operations as a business."
-> On June 13, 2005, a curious user, barbara, sent email to Wayne Westerman asking:
and his reply:Have you sold the company and will your product line be taken up and continued by another business?
I wish manufacturing had continued or shutdown had gone smoother, but if we all cross our fingers, maybe the basic technology will not disappear forever
-> One thing I found noteworthy, barbara points out that FingerWorks was awarded the 2005 CES Best of Innovations for the "WinPad", which looks to be an evolution of the iGesture Pad.
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Updated September 2, 2005
-> On August 31, 2005, mrpeanut posted a link to another forum that states "Apple just hired these two guys full time to design the next Apple trackpad."
-> On September 2, 2005, mrpeanut chimes in again saying that it's "common knowledge" that both Wayne Westerman and John Elias are now working for Apple Computer.
-> Also on September 2, 2005, nomaded says that his source (a friend who wants to remain anonymous) has confirmed that Westerman currently works for Apple Computer, and that he seems to work remotely.
