Philippe Kahn
French founder of Borland who shared the first camera-phone photo
- Age
- 74 yrs
- Birthday in 131 days
- Works listed
- 0
- Career highlights
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
- Profile views
- 0
- 0 followers
Philippe Kahn is a French-American entrepreneur who founded the software company Borland, famous for Turbo Pascal. In 1997, when his daughter was born, he rigged a camera to a mobile phone and shared her picture instantly — the first camera-phone photo. He founded Starfish, LightSurf and Fullpower.
Biography
Background
Kahn studied mathematics at ETH Zurich and the University of Nice, where he learned programming from Niklaus Wirth’s Pascal course.
Borland
Moving to California, he founded Borland in 1982. Its Turbo Pascal, written by Anders Hejlsberg and sold cheaply by mail, was a huge hit, followed by Quattro Pro and Paradox.
Camera phone
On 11 June 1997, as his daughter Sophie was born, he connected a digital camera to a Motorola phone and sent the photo to friends and family. His LightSurf company developed the technology.
Later
He founded Starfish Software (sync, sold to Motorola) and Fullpower, which works on sleep and motion sensors.
Timeline
-
1952
Born in Paris, France
-
1982
Founds Borland
-
1983
Turbo Pascal
-
1994
Founds Starfish Software
-
1997
First camera-phone photo
-
1998
Founds LightSurf
-
2003
Founds Fullpower
Did you know?
-
1
He studied under Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zurich.
-
2
He is a jazz saxophonist and flautist.
-
3
He competes in sailing races.
Connections
Related people
Frequently asked
Who is Philippe Kahn?
Philippe Kahn is a French-American entrepreneur who founded the software company Borland, famous for Turbo Pascal. In 1997, when his daughter was born, he rigged a camera to a mobile phone and shared her picture instantly — the first camera-phone photo. He founded Starfish, LightSurf and Fullpower.
How old is Philippe Kahn?
Philippe Kahn is 74 years old, born on 16 March 1952 in Paris, France.
Where is Philippe Kahn from?
Philippe Kahn was born in Paris, France.
What is Philippe Kahn known for?
Philippe Kahn is best known for Founding Borland (1982); Turbo Pascal; inventing the camera phone (1997); Fullpower Technologies.
References
- Philippe Kahn — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Philippe Kahn (Q1373386) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Philippe Kahn”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Philippe Kahn.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/philippe-kahn
Discussion 0
Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.
No comments yet — be the first.
More in Technology
Technology
Sachin Bansal
Co-founder of Flipkart and founder of Navi
Born 1981
Technology
Satya Nadella
Chairman and CEO of Microsoft
Born 1967
Technology
Nandan Nilekani
Infosys co-founder and architect of Aadhaar
Born 1955
Technology
Ritesh Agarwal
Founder of the hotel chain OYO
Technology
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Founder of the digital payments company Paytm
Born 1978
Technology
Nithin Kamath
Co-founder of the discount brokerage Zerodha
Born 1979