NYTimes: Ex-Apple Exec to lead Palm

[MOTOhooligan]

Full Article

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 16 years with Palm.

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.

[SteveW]

Jon Rubinstein has gotten Palm back in the game, and he is being rewarded for it with a lot more responsibility. Also from the NYT article:

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, Calif.

Elevation owns 25% of Palm, so while Ed Colligan will have less of a day-to-day role, he will certainly still be involved with Palm.


SW

[SteveW]

A couple of excerpts from the InformationWeek article on this topic:

"The timing was certainly awkward, coming just four days after the launch of the Pre," said Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Matthew Sheerin about the leadership change, in a note to investors. "Our take is that Rubinstein was being groomed for the last two years to run the company, and is ready for the next challenge, having put together a solid engineering team."

Palm faces multiple challenges though, as the smartphone space is lined with deep-pocketed companies such as Apple, Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Palm has reported seven consecutive quarterly losses, and it has been kept afloat over the last few years by more than $400 million from Elevation Partners, which owns about a third of the company.

Palm won't have to worry much about cash if it continues to develop good products like the Pre, said Gerry Purdy, chief analyst at Frost & Sullivan. Purdy said Rubinstein's experience in the consumer electronics world, as well as strong forecasts of growth in the smartphone market, means Palm should be able to differentiate from Nokia, Apple, and Research In Motion to carve out a decent amount of market share.

"I think he took this position to do something significant, and he's going to go for a home run," said Purdy. "He knows how to make great products, and I think the Pre is just the tip of the iceberg."


SW