Palm to out-iPod Apple with CEO pick
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The individual credited with building the iPod is poised to square off against he who birthed the player, Steve Jobs - or at least his company, Apple.
Palm has named Apple's former iPod division chief Jon Rubinstein as its chairman and chief executive officer, less than two years after he joined fresh from Apple as executive chairman.
Rubinstein will take over from current CEO Ed Colligan, who's stepping down after 16 years with the handset provider. Rubinstein will take charge on June 12, Palm said Wednesday.
The change comes just days after Sprint Nextel - the US's third largest carrier - began shipping the touch-enabled Palm Pre and claimed it had already sold out. The Pre's development was overseen by Rubinstein.
The Pre is priced $199 with a two-year contract and mail-in rebate, features calendar, contact and messaging capabilities, and synchs with Apple's iTunes music store.
Rubinstein joined Palm in October 2007 as Elevation Partners took a meaty 25 per cent stake in the handset provider, worth $325m. Increasingly, it's looking like Elevation took charge with the long-term plan of not just turning Palm around but making it the next Apple for devices in the battle for market share against Research In Motion.
Also joining Rubinstein were Elevation managing director and co-founders Fred Anderson and Roger McNamee, who took board seats. Anderson is a former Apple chief financial officer.
Rubinstein left Apple in 2006, almost ten years after he joined as senior vice president for hardware engineering, during which time he'd overhauled Apple's engineering operations, product roadmaps and manufacturing processes.
Along with the iPod, Rubinstein is credited with delivering the then groundbreaking iMac in 1998 that signaled Apple's return from the computing wilderness.
He landed at Apple after he'd been brought in to run hardware engineering at Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs' failed NeXT computing start up in the early 1990s.
The question for Palm and Rubenstein now is whether he will continue his involvement in technology and manufacturing whilst occupying a role that's more business focused and requires a greater involvement in all of the company's activities - not just one aspect. That aspect, manufacturing and development, has been the hallmark of Rubinstein’s career to-date. ®
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COMMENTS
BLAH BLAH BLAH
The Pre is great and all but it has some of the same shortcomings that the iPhone has (lack of a replaceable battery, no flash support, no micro SD slot). Now, this is an opportunity for second generation Android phones to fill in the blanks and put the screws to both Apple and Palm. It's pretty obvious that all of the former Apple folk who are involved with the Pre have made it what it is. Sprint Customers will get a kick out of it, but unfortunately us AT&T customers only have one choice and if your contract isn't up for renewal because you just renewed in February (like me), you won't see an iPhone at a decent price for two years.
WinMo is not really for smartphones
It was designed for a Pocket PC experience, not touch screen (only) interaction and phone calls. Version 6.1 is better with some OEM skins on top. Palm Pre and iPhones are smartphones running dedicated smartphone OSs. You can make your WinMo PPC/phone ape like an iPhone, or anything else really......can you do the same customization with an iPhone? Nope. I only mention this because someone brought up WinMo in the context of smartphones. Another quality design from Apple, and a great addition to the Palm line, but they are nothing really special. My omnia takes way better pictures, has voice command and years upon years of Win CE and WinMo apps available. It cost me exactly $0.00 dollars to get one :) (2 year plan).
P.S. The Omnia has a Kick Ass flashlight (actual bright led) ! Compared it to my girl's iphone flashlight app......no competition.
Whatever happened to the iPAQ?
Great kit!
My 2210 is still in almost daily use after purchasing it primarily for terrain maps.
But it didn't evolve, got stuck in a rut, was overlooked in development terms and fossilized?
I think one big aspect/factor overlooked by reviewers is: Apple cross device functionality.
Not only are they pretty decent standalone devices teamed up with a Mac they are awesomely easy to work together in best of: the sum is greater than its parts.
Unfortunately with other non-Apple devices it tends to be: the sum is greater than its pants?
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