Designer Jon Rubinstein now Palm Chairman/CEO
As we mentioned a few months ago, a couple of years ago Palm wooed past Apple designer Jon Rubinstein (whose design credits include the original iPod) over to its team to try to put life back into its declining product line—resulting in first the Treo Pro, and then the Palm Pre.
Today a Palm press release indicates that Rubinstein is moving up from his position of Executive Chairman to the big seat: Chairman and CEO of Palm. This seems to suggest a good deal of approval of his performance so far on the part of the Palm Board of Directors. It also means Rubinstein is going to be in the driver’s seat for the next few years as the Pre and its successors fight with Apple and Blackberry for market share.
Here’s hoping Rubinstein can lead Palm to success in the smartphone market. Much as I enjoy using my iPod Touch, there needs to be competition for the market to be its healthiest.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Is this a matter of approving Jon’s performance… or of sweeping out the last of the old guard after Jeff Hawkins dropped the ball on their Folio at the 1-yard line? Okay, maybe not… but honestly, I had all but forgotten Palm still even existed. Jon’s got a lot of work ahead of him.