Episode 28 Handwriting Application

“This works for me,” said my elderly mother
Impressed by iPad, I concentrated on the intensive development of apps

In the early days of MetaMoji, which I had just launched with Hatsuko and a team of researchers brought in from JustSystems, we were working to develop a video streaming application. The maximum length of a video to be posted was limited to 20 seconds. It is much like TikTok today. We called it “ViviDrama” and development had progressed to the point where employees could post sample videos.

However, at a development meeting held in June 2010, the year after our company was founded, I made the decision to stop the development of ViviDrama. This was because I had witnessed the birth of a revolutionary product earlier that year. It was iPad, a tablet developed by Apple Inc. I was shocked when I saw the video of Steve Jobs’ presentation, but I still remember how impressed I was when I touched the actual iPad.
Before iPad went on sale in Japan, a patent attorney who had supported us for a long time showed us an iPad that he had traveled to Hawaii to buy. I still clearly remember the shock I felt at that time. “Why didn’t I think of this?” That’s what I thought.

Once I picked up iPad, I suddenly began to find the existing computers inconvenient. With iPad, I am not tied to a desk and can use it anywhere, anytime. It was not unlike a smartphone, which was still not suitable for detailed work due to its small screen. We have come a long way with the evolution of computers over the years, and I realized that this was the next innovation.

If so, what can we do? My first thought was to make it easier for everyone to write by utilizing these tablets. Just as we once created “Ichitaro,” I decided to develop an application that would enable people to write texts smoothly by hand.

To do so, we had to abandon the development of the video distribution application, which was halfway through at the time. But in reality, this was not my decision alone. One of the engineers suggested to me that we focus on iPad applications, saying, “Boss, this will be a pretty great tool.” I was encouraged because the direction I wanted to take was in line with the engineers who had trained their skills during their time at JustSystems.

I was thoroughly particular about the feel of a pen. Therefore, I had a development tool created that parameterized the pen’s writing speed, acceleration, duration, bend against pen pressure, thickness, and other factors for use in handwriting, and I engaged in the tuning work myself. In addition, Professor Masaki Nakagawa of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology provided the technology, and we jointly developed the character recognition technology.

Thus, our handwriting system “Mazec” was born. The name was derived from the system’s ability to input any combination (“mazeru” in Japanese) of kanji, hiragana, and katakana. We focused on the response speed when the user traces the touch panel with a finger or other object. A response level of a few tenths of a second is required. I reminded the technical team, saying “You have to reach a level that I am satisfied with,” and through a process of trial and error, they succeeded in achieving the performance I desired.

When we released this app under the name “7notes,” it received a great response and was ranked No. 1 in Apple’s app rankings. What pleased me most of all were the words of my mother, who was 86 years old at the time.

“This works for me.”

My mother’s words became our catchphrase for 7notes.

My mother worked in a managerial position at city hall. One of her jobs was to write various certificates of commendation, and on Sundays, she would bring home a stack of papers and work on them by hand. This experience must have instilled in her the importance of writing letters by hand. My mother had never used Ichitaro as it required keyboard operation, but this time, she readily accepted this application.

Thus, my new journey with Hatsuko and I began to get well on track.

The author presenting “7notes,”
a handwriting application (in February 2011).