The ever-entertaining Bill Maggs is to quit Palm Computing, leaving the company in search of a new Chief Technology Officer. Maggs had spent less than a year in the hot seat.

CNet cites an internal email from Palm CEO Carl Yankowski informing staff that Maggs is resigning to "pursue outside opportunities related to the next phase of the Internet".

The recent PalmSource conference found Maggs - unusual and all the more likeable for enjoying life outside work, a crime in Silicon Valley - almost demob happy, sources have told The Register.

Palm finds itself squeezed between two competitors with deep pockets: Microsoft and the mobile phone companies' joint Symbian venture, which by our estimates is outspending R&D on Palm-based smartphones by about 3:1 or 4:1. Palm shunned the opportunity of pooling its resources with Symbian in favour of a complete rewrite of the PalmOS that's expected in a couple of years time.

The new CTO will have this to manage, and as well as a migration to a new hardware platform. So the best of luck. ®

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