Jonathan Rubinstein, a former Apple executive behind its iPod, was named chief executive of the smartphone maker Palm on Wednesday. Mr. Rubinstein will succeed Ed Colligan, who is stepping down after sixteen years with Palm.Rico says his Zelig moment in all this is through Donna Dubinsky, who left Apple, after they sucked back Claris, to become CEO of Palm, back in 1992. He and Donna made the first Claris trip to Ireland together, back in the late 80s. She left Palm to start Handspring in 1998, and is now at Numenta.
The appointment, effective Friday, comes just days after Palm introduced the $199 Pre, a well-regarded rival to Apple’s blockbuster iPhone. One of Pre’s signature features is that it syncs with the iTunes music store just like an iPod or iPhone.
Mr. Rubinstein, 52, will remain chairman, a post he assumed in October 2007 to help bring innovation back to the company. He said in a statement he was excited about his expanded role. “With Palm webOS we have ten-plus years of innovation ahead of us, and the Palm Pre is already one of the year’s hottest new products,” he said.
Sprint, the exclusive carrier for the Pre, said the phone’s weekend introduction broke first-day and first-weekend sales records for a Sprint device. Palm said Mr. Colligan, who had also served as president, plans to take some time off before joining a private equity firm, Elevation Partners, in Menlo Park, California.
Mr. Rubinstein began at Apple in 1997 as a senior vice president for hardware engineering. He helped lead the introduction of the iMac and later led the iPod division.
Palm, based in Sunnyvale, California, made the announcement after the close of market trading. Shares gained 39 cents after the close of the market, to $12.38.
11 June 2009
One in, one out
The AP has a story about the latest CEO at Palm:
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