Palm CEO, former Apple exec says he's never used an iPhone

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
In an interview at CES this week, Palm chief executive and former iPod chief Jon Rubinstein said his company doesn't pay much attention to Apple, and noted he has never even used an iPhone.



Rubinstein sat down with BoomTown's Kara Swisher to talk about his company's new lineup of webOS-based handsets due out this year. In the course of the conversation, Apple and its market-leading iPhone unsurprisingly came up.



Rubinstein said that although it sounds "really strange," his company doesn't pay much attention to Apple, and he doesn't worry about the iPhone. To that, Swisher responded: "I don't believe you." Rubinstein then claimed he has never touched an iPhone



"I don't have an iPhone," he said. "I've never even used one."



The Palm executive also spoke about the iTunes sync spat that developed over the course of 2009. Through a back-and-forth battle, Palm repeatedly attempted to circumvent Apple's software to allow its Pre handset to sync with iTunes. Subsequent updates to iTunes broke the capability.



The dispute finally came to an end after the USB Implementers Forum sided with Apple and chastised Palm for violating its policities. The USB-IF said Apple is within its right to limit iTunes syncing to proprietary hardware like the iPhone and iPod.



Though the fight has been dropped, Rubinstein this week said he still believes Apple was in the wrong.



"We don't think what Apple did is good for their customers," he said. "But Apple's going to do what Apple's going to do."



Rubinstein said his company has no plans to create their own syncing app -- something he feels the developer community would be better suited to handle. He also said he doesn't "see the point" of approaching Apple to create a joint solution.



Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein with Kara Swisher of BoomTown. Credit: AllThingsD



On Thursday, Palm announced two new handsets, the Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus, available exclusively for the Verizon network in the U.S. starting Jan. 25. The Pre Plus will offer an application called Palm Mobile Hotspot, which allows up to five devices to tether via Wi-Fi and gain 3G Internet access. The company also plans to add video recording to its existing webOS-based devices, the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi.



In 2005, Rubinstein retired from Apple. He first began working with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1990, when he joined the company NeXT. Jobs later brought him to Apple as senior vice president of hardware engineering. In his time there, he was instrumental in the creation of the iPod and the original iMac.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 259
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Jon Rubinstein said his company doesn't pay much attention to Apple, and noted he has never even used an iPhone.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Rubinstein said that although it sounds "really strange," his company doesn't pay much attention to Apple, and he doesn't worry about the iPhone.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The Palm executive also spoke about the iTunes sync spat that developed over the course of 2009. Through a back-and-forth battle, Palm repeatedly attempted to circumvent Apple's software to allow its Pre handset to sync with iTunes.



    Bit of a contradiction there if I'm not mistaken.
  • Reply 2 of 259
    mj webmj web Posts: 918member
    Made another killing in January! I will short PALM down to $1.
  • Reply 3 of 259
    Quote:

    Jon Rubinstein said his company doesn't pay much attention to Apple, and noted he has never even used an iPhone.



    Sheesh. I was considering shorting Palm, that seals it. The CEO of a small player hasn't even used the market leading solution? Is that supposed to give us confidence?



    Competitive analysis is key to success. It's one thing to consider yourself a leader and to not feel the need to copy other efforts, but to be willfully ignorant of what's going on in the market? Jesus. These guys are doomed.
  • Reply 4 of 259
    albimalbim Posts: 68member
    I don't really care for palm, but am I the only one who hopes PALM stock goes way up so MJ Web can lose some money?
  • Reply 5 of 259
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member
    Wow. How can you claim you offer the best product, if you haven't at least checked out the competition? With that said, I do not believe the guy. Palm borrowed so much from Apple in creating the Pre, his claim seems preposterous. Further, it seems crazy that Palm first hitches a ride on iTunes, and after that fails, will not create a solution itself.
  • Reply 6 of 259
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "We don't think what Apple did is good for their customers," he said. "But Apple's going to do what Apple's going to do."



    Then why don't you do what's good for YOUR customers and create a solution of your own? Did this guy really work for Apple at one time? Sheesh.\
  • Reply 7 of 259
    Quote:

    Rubinstein said his company has no plans to create their own syncing app -- something he feels the developer community would be better suited to handle. He also said he doesn't "see the point" of approaching Apple to create a joint solution.



    In other words, Rubenstein doesn't see the benefits of going about things the correct way. He doesn't even want to leverage iTunes' plugin system, as RIM does with their new Blackberry Desktop Software, to access iTunes and sync with Mac apps legitimately.



    Either Palm's programmers are intensely incompetent or Rubenstein is just looking for headlines. With such low sales of the Pre and Pixi, it might just be the latter.
  • Reply 8 of 259
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Those aren?t even good lies.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpinDrift View Post


    Bit of a contradiction there if I'm not mistaken.



    He says ?not much?, he doesn?t use any absolute like ?not any?, so it can?t be quantified.
  • Reply 9 of 259
    Did anyone really think the CEO of Palm was gonna come and say "Yeah, the iPhone is really great. I love all the features and boy, talk about good design..."
  • Reply 10 of 259
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    A CEO that doesn't check out his competition?



    That was an arrogant and stupid career move he made. If the CEO of my company would have said that, they would have been fired.
  • Reply 11 of 259
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by manfrommars View Post


    Did anyone really think the CEO of Palm was gonna come and say "Yeah, the iPhone is really great. I love all the features and boy, talk about good design..."



    Of course not, but there is a difference between praising your competition and stating that you pay no attention to your competition or their devices. I guess when your entire business is based on stealing from them it?s best to deny everything.
  • Reply 12 of 259
    mrobmrob Posts: 13member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by manfrommars View Post


    Did anyone really think the CEO of Palm was gonna come and say "Yeah, the iPhone is really great. I love all the features and boy, talk about good design..."



    no--but he could say "I've used the iPhone, and while its a good product I think the functionality of the Pre is superior, blah blah. . ."



    saying he's never used it just makes him look uninformed--and naive. neither of which is an attractive quality in a CEO.
  • Reply 13 of 259
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    This guy, along with that other clown Roger McNamee, is beginning to sound more like Ballmer every time he opens his mouth.
  • Reply 14 of 259
    oc4theooc4theo Posts: 294member
    Rubinstein is a Liar. Even Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer will not say they never touched an iPhone, or doesn't pay attention to Apple.



    There are probably dozens of iPhone disassembled at Palm's lab. This man is a damn liar. There is no phone company on the planet earth who has not disassembled an iPhone to see the "magic" inside.



    Rubinstein is ashamed to admit that Apple is beating the pants off Palm. Screw him!
  • Reply 15 of 259
    eehdeehd Posts: 137member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    his company doesn't pay much attention to Apple, and he doesn't worry about the iPhone.







    Maybe he doesn't but I'm sure the software writers for his company do. After all, they made the Pre sync with iTunes...several times after Apple release patches to prevent them from doing it. They used Apple's USB ID, for f*cks sake.
  • Reply 16 of 259
    mobilememobileme Posts: 288member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Those aren’t even good lies.









    He says “not much”, he doesn’t use any absolute like “not any”, so it can’t be quantified.



    Ah solipsism haven't heard from you in awhile how are things in the ansible my friend?

    .................................................. ...





    John who? ohhhhhh John the traitor okay, isn't he the same guy that had the debut with McNamee Last year at D7 and made it known to the public that "APPLE WOULDN'T CARE, ABOUT OUR DEVICE SYNCING WITH iTunes" hmmmmm apple did care... Actually Apple cared enough that now John the traitor says "Developers are better equipped to write a syncing app for palm" ... well john that's pretty hard to do when you have just a handful of developers compared to even windows ... Now later in the conversation John the traitor says "where a small company, that developed WebOS*bc and we've made it scaleable to different platforms" what platforms John??... He needs to wake up and realize that he shouldn't have left Apple and now he's just a bitter CEO and is a Bad lier,..even steve ballmer admits to keeping an eye or should I say a photo copier on Apple. John is such in deep denial ... If I were him I'd go crawling back to Apple kissing Steves feet begging for a chance to comeback and be apart of something great Again .... But that's just me.



    *bc = bull crap
  • Reply 17 of 259
    Palm = Irrelevant company with a stupid CEO at it's helm.
  • Reply 18 of 259
    danyakdanyak Posts: 30member
    OMG! This guy is CEO and says he has never even laid hand on the competing product the dominates the market! I would sell all my stock in Palm if I believed this guy - not much to say about what's wrong with him saying this. Check him for brain wave activity, quick!
  • Reply 19 of 259
    Palm's CEO won't be around much longer with statements like that. I once worked for a CEO who had the same "competition? What competition?" approach. Since then he's never kept a job longer than a couple of years; as he can't keep up with the real world. Glad I'm not a Palm stockholder.
  • Reply 20 of 259
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Loup407 View Post


    Glad I'm not a Palm stockholder.



    I wish I bought Palm stock back when they announced the Pre a year ago. Stock jumped over 10x in 5 months. Still on high with 11% increase on Friday. Buy on rumour sell on fact! Looking for my next quick win at CES. I love Vegas!
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