Metrowerks, Inc.
Metrowerks, Inc. was the Austin-based developer-tools company whose CodeWarrior IDE was used to build third-party software for the pen-based and handheld platforms of the 1990s and early 2000s. Beginning in May 1995 with the Magic Cap toolkit it co-launched with General Magic, CodeWarrior went on to become a primary development tool for Palm OS, Windows CE, and the Symbian smartphone platform.
In hindsight, what's striking about Metrowerks is how easy it is to miss them — they never shipped a device, never built an operating system, never made a consumer product. But almost every pen-based or handheld OS of the era was, in practice, written in CodeWarrior. Motorola acquired the company for roughly US$95 million in 1999.
Organization Details
United States
Greg Galanos (Founder/President/CTO) and Jean Belanger (Chairman/CEO)
CodeWarrior
Metrowerks, Inc. was an Austin, Texas-based developer of professional software-development tools, founded in 1985 and led by chairman and CEO Jean Belanger and founder, president and CTO Greg Galanos.1 On March 13, 1995, Metrowerks and General Magic announced an agreement under which Metrowerks would introduce CodeWarrior Magic, a Macintosh-hosted toolkit for Magic Cap applications development, priced at $299 and planned for the second quarter of 1995.2
On May 8, 1995, Metrowerks began shipping CodeWarrior Magic/MPW, described in the announcement as the first publicly available toolkit for the Magic Cap platform and marking the opening of the platform to developers outside General Magic's existing developer program.3 The same day, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, Metrowerks announced CodeWarrior 6, which added a Macintosh-hosted Win32 backend and linker for Windows NT development from Macintosh and Power Macintosh computers, along with new Magic Cap, OpenDoc, and CFM68K targets.4
On January 29, 1996, in conjunction with the Palm Computing division of U.S. Robotics' announcement of the Pilot connected organizer at Demo '96, Metrowerks announced that CodeWarrior would support development for the Palm OS, with the development environment hosted on Macintosh.5 CodeWarrior for Pilot DR1 was released on June 11, 1996, priced at $299, with Palm Computing reporting that more than 1,500 developers had registered for the Pilot development program in the four months since the device's announcement.6
On April 28, 1997, Metrowerks announced CodeWarrior for PalmPilot DR/2, the first PalmPilot tools release hosted on Windows 95/NT in addition to Mac OS, priced at $369 and including a new visual interface design editor called Constructor for Palm OS.7 On the same day, Metrowerks announced an agreement with Microsoft to ship CodeWarrior for Windows CE, with initial support targeting NEC's VR Series of embedded microprocessors and delivery planned before the end of calendar year 1997.8
On August 19, 1999, Motorola, Inc. announced that its Semiconductor Products Sector would offer to acquire all outstanding common shares of Metrowerks in an all-cash bid at US$6.25 per share, or approximately US$95 million, with Metrowerks at the time employing about 240 people — 200 in Austin and the remainder across Silicon Valley, Montreal, Ottawa, Germany, Tokyo, and Boston — and CodeWarrior carrying more than 200,000 registered users in 80 countries.1 Motorola Canada Acquisition Corp. announced the successful completion of the offer on September 25, 1999, with approximately 96% of outstanding common shares on a fully diluted basis tendered and paid for.9
On January 29, 2001, Metrowerks — by then an independently operating subsidiary of Motorola — and Symbian announced an agreement under which Metrowerks would deliver a complete set of CodeWarrior software development tools for the Symbian platform, geared specifically toward third-party product, application, and services development for Symbian-based wireless information devices.10 The first CodeWarrior products for Symbian would consist of Java development tools targeting both the Symbian emulator and Symbian devices, scheduled for June 2001, with C/C++ support to follow in subsequent releases.10
AI generated using primary sources referenced in the footnotes
Footnotes
- Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector Announces Intention to Purchase Metrowerks Inc., August 19, 1999
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks and General Magic Reach Agreement to Provide CodeWarrior as Development System for Magic Cap Applications Development, March 13, 1995
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks Ships CodeWarrior Magic/MPW, First Publicly Available Development System for Magic Cap Applications Development, May 8, 1995
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks Introduces CodeWarrior 6 at Apple Computer's Worldwide Developers Conference -- Support for Win32, Magic Cap and OpenDoc Development Introduced, May 8, 1995
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks CodeWarrior to Support Development for New Pilot Connected Organizer, January 29, 1996
- U.S. Robotics, U.S. Robotics and Metrowerks Release Development Tools for Pilot Connected Organizer, June 11, 1996
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks Introduces CodeWarrior for PalmPilot, Application Development Tools Hosted on Windows 95/NT and Mac OS, April 28, 1997
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks Announces Development Tools Support for Microsoft Windows CE, April 28, 1997
- Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector, Motorola Canada Acquisition Corp. Announces the Successful Completion of Its Offer to Acquire Metrowerks Inc., September 25, 1999
- Metrowerks, Metrowerks to Provide Comprehensive Development Tools for the Symbian Platform, January 29, 2001
Artifacts
8 artifacts in the collection
Metrowerks CodeWarrior for Pilot (Package)
Metrowerks CodeWarrior for PalmPilot Release 3 (Package)
Metrowerks, Inc. – Metrowerks CodeWarrior for PalmPilot (Brochure)
Metrowerks, Inc. – Metrowerks CodeWarrior for Windows CE (Brochure)
Metrowerks, Inc. – Metrowerks Fall 1997 Press Kit
Metrowerks, Inc. – Metrowerks Ships CodeWarrior for PalmPilot Release 3 Press Release
Metrowerks, Inc. – Metrowerks to Support Windows CE 2.0 (Press Release)
Metrowerks, Inc. – Jim Welch Business Card
People
Berardino Baratta
Jean Belanger
Gordy Davies
Ken Edwards
Tabitha Ethridge
Stephanie L. Franks
Cynthia Fray
Greg Galanos
Rob Geier
Kathy Hill
Maria Krinsky
Minna Lai
Harold Lotz
David Perkins
Eileen Schaubert
Jeff Tieszen
James Walker
Jim Welch
Oral History
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Connections
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