Palm snags another former Apple employee for exec role
Palm continues to poach former Apple employees for its executive-level talent, with its latest coup the signing of a former creative director at the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.
Jeff Zwerner, Palm's new senior vice president, Brand Design, had two stints at Apple: From 1995-1996 he was the senior art director, and from 2001-2003 he was the company's creative director for packaging. In his new role at Palm, Zwerner will be in charge of global advertising, marketing communications, PR, events and web design.
Zwerner also founded his own design consultancy, Factor Design, which served top-tier clients including Apple. He has won numerous awards and distinctions, including a nomination in 2007 for a National Design Award by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He has a bachelor of fine arts degree from California Institute of the Arts.
The new hire, first discovered by precentral.net is the latest in a series of hires of former Apple employees. The move began in 2007, when Palm appointed Apple's former senior engineering VP, Jon Rubinstein, as executive chairman and previous chief financial officer, Fred Anderson, as a general board member.
The takeover became official in June, when Rubinstein was named Palm's new CEO. An Apple executive who helped lead the company out of its dark ages and later played an integral role in pioneering the iPod, Rubinstein assumed his new position just days after Palm launched its new Pre smartphone, a competitor to the iPhone.
In 1996, Rubinstein accepted an executive position at Apple as senior vice president of hardware engineering because he saw the company as "the last innovative high-volume computer maker in the world." In the years that would follow, Rubinstein -- better known as "Ruby" by his peers -- would take the reins of Apple's Mac hardware engineer team, which he helped streamline and restructure alongside Jobs' advisement. He would go on to oversee development of the original iMac and several future generations of Mac hardware including G4 and G5 systems.
With the Mac back on its feet, Apple began to pursue alternative markets and Jobs tapped Rubinstein, 54, to devise a digital music player in just eight months. It was Rubinstein who discovered the original iPod's key technology at the time, a 1.8-inch hard disk floating around Toshiba's labs with no target market. Rubinstein retired from Apple in 2005, only to be plucked by Palm two years later.
In other Palm news, the handset maker has filed a complaint with the USB Implementers Forum over Apple's attempts to block the Pre from syncing with iTunes. In a back-and-forth dispute, Apple disabled the Pre's ability to sync with iTunes, only for Palm to fire back and fix the issue. The sync works because the Pre incorrectly identifies itself as an iPod.
Speaking with The New York Times, Mike Abramsky, an analyst with investment firm RBC Capital Markets, said the outcome of Palm's complaint is unpredictable.
?There isn?t much precedent for this case,? he said. ?It?s breaking new ground. In my mind, ultimately the users are the arbiters in the outcome of these situations.?
Jeff Zwerner, Palm's new senior vice president, Brand Design, had two stints at Apple: From 1995-1996 he was the senior art director, and from 2001-2003 he was the company's creative director for packaging. In his new role at Palm, Zwerner will be in charge of global advertising, marketing communications, PR, events and web design.
Zwerner also founded his own design consultancy, Factor Design, which served top-tier clients including Apple. He has won numerous awards and distinctions, including a nomination in 2007 for a National Design Award by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. He has a bachelor of fine arts degree from California Institute of the Arts.
The new hire, first discovered by precentral.net is the latest in a series of hires of former Apple employees. The move began in 2007, when Palm appointed Apple's former senior engineering VP, Jon Rubinstein, as executive chairman and previous chief financial officer, Fred Anderson, as a general board member.
The takeover became official in June, when Rubinstein was named Palm's new CEO. An Apple executive who helped lead the company out of its dark ages and later played an integral role in pioneering the iPod, Rubinstein assumed his new position just days after Palm launched its new Pre smartphone, a competitor to the iPhone.
In 1996, Rubinstein accepted an executive position at Apple as senior vice president of hardware engineering because he saw the company as "the last innovative high-volume computer maker in the world." In the years that would follow, Rubinstein -- better known as "Ruby" by his peers -- would take the reins of Apple's Mac hardware engineer team, which he helped streamline and restructure alongside Jobs' advisement. He would go on to oversee development of the original iMac and several future generations of Mac hardware including G4 and G5 systems.
With the Mac back on its feet, Apple began to pursue alternative markets and Jobs tapped Rubinstein, 54, to devise a digital music player in just eight months. It was Rubinstein who discovered the original iPod's key technology at the time, a 1.8-inch hard disk floating around Toshiba's labs with no target market. Rubinstein retired from Apple in 2005, only to be plucked by Palm two years later.
In other Palm news, the handset maker has filed a complaint with the USB Implementers Forum over Apple's attempts to block the Pre from syncing with iTunes. In a back-and-forth dispute, Apple disabled the Pre's ability to sync with iTunes, only for Palm to fire back and fix the issue. The sync works because the Pre incorrectly identifies itself as an iPod.
Speaking with The New York Times, Mike Abramsky, an analyst with investment firm RBC Capital Markets, said the outcome of Palm's complaint is unpredictable.
?There isn?t much precedent for this case,? he said. ?It?s breaking new ground. In my mind, ultimately the users are the arbiters in the outcome of these situations.?
Comments
2013 Steve Jobs comes back to apple with palm in his pocket
All these guys were already turned out to pasture by apple (or found the gate on their own).
I think most non-compete clauses are for a year and all of them had been away from apple for longer than that already. It could simply be a new trend:
"If you were good enough to work for Apple, then you are probably better than we have inhouse".
I wonder what other companies have snatched up former apple folks?
I am not sure it matters since palm is not really poaching.
All these guys were already turned out to pasture by apple (or found the gate on their own).
I think most non-compete clauses are for a year and all of them had been away from apple for longer than that already. It could simply be a new trend:
"If you were good enough to work for Apple, then you are probably better than we have inhouse".
I wonder what other companies have snatched up former apple folks?
Exactly, the headline is probably deliberately misleading to attract attention. 'Snag' infers they are at Apple when hired. It is not really 'snagging' when the are simply ex Apple.
Exactly, the headline is probably deliberately misleading to attract attention. 'Snag' infers they are at Apple when hired. It is not really 'snagging' when the are simply ex Apple.
That's for sure- my prior post was responding on that assumption.
Apple should move to another state where no-compete clauses have some teeth
Non-compete clauses have no teeth anywhere since it is unconstitutional to unreasonably restrict a person' ability to earn a living. WTF he hasn't worked at Apple for 6 years!
Palm continues to poach former Apple employees for its executive-level talent,?
Since when does having worked at Apple 6 years ago and being a contractor for Apple equate with being an "Apple Exec" and "employee?" What am I missing?
But why should they leave? What does this say about Apple? Palm? What do they see that we're not seeing?
Apple has huge market, software, apps leadership in the smart phones. However, it limiting its distribution to ATT here in the US and a limited number of carriers in other countries. So that leaves room for upstarts like Palm. Theoretically folks who want the iPhone could switch to ATT, but that does not take place for various reasons. In the US, Verizon is the big prize for Palm once the Sprint exclusivity ends. Overseas, Palm could sell to the CDMA EVDO carriers and sell a model based on TD-SCDMA to China Mobile.
The software is a little unstable and the hardware is not polished yet. However, that can be improved with time. All this new talent probably gets a lot of options and even a so so share of the smartphones and the stock could really go up. A long shot indeed.
Since when does having worked at Apple 6 years ago and being a contractor for Apple equate with being an "Apple Exec" and "employee?" What am I missing?
Sensationalized, misinformed "journalism."
Since when does having worked at Apple 6 years ago and being a contractor for Apple equate with being an "Apple Exec" and "employee?" What am I missing?
the key word "former"
the article is absurdly sensationalist though.
The Pre should keep them alive, but it is hard to see how they can sell the quantities required (especially with just Sprint). So much of Sprint's subscriber base is either legacy Nextel or prepaid that it is hard to imagine the Pre having an addressable market more than 2.5MM customers over a period of six months. That will keep the lights on, but the company has to show a profit so I can't imagine any big bonuses or stock options that wouldn't just decimate the share price...
By the time Verizon is on the scene, the Pre might be a dated offering. Could Palm pull off semi-annual update cycles? (Could Apple?)
With so many Apple people headed over to Palm and they are becoming Apple lite, maybe Palm should change it's name to something fruity... like Orange... then you can have Apples to Oranges in comparison!
Then shut Palm down after asset stripping it.
With all the cash Apple has in the bank this would hardly even show on the bank balance and Apple would pocket the rights to some pretty good patents regarding handheld devices.
Your articles are becoming more tabloid as time goes on. Please do us loyal AI members a favor by personally replying as to how Palm "snags" a former Apple employee that hasn't been there for years. And during those years he was there, he did not amount to much.
Your title is misleading. You do your members a disservice.
Kasper -
Your articles are becoming more tabloid as time goes on. Please do us loyal AI members a favor by personally replying as to how Palm "snags" a former Apple employee that hasn't been there for years. And during those years he was there, he did not amount to much.
Your title is misleading. You do your members a disservice.