Former Apple exec and Palm chief Jon Rubinstein leaves HP
Hewlett-Packard on Friday confirmed that Jon Rubinstein, who came to the company through its $1.2 billion purchase of Palm, has left the company.
"Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well, HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan told Arik Hesseldahl of All Things D, who first broke the news. Rubinstein first joined HP when it acquired Palm in 2010, and he served a 12-24 month commitment at the company following the acquisition.
"Rubinstein's departure is no big surprise," Hesseldahl wrote. "Sources said he hadn't been seen at HP's offices following the decision by former CEO Leo Apotheker to get out of the business of making WebOS-based hardware. His future plans have been the subject of speculation for some time."
Apotheker was at the helm of HP last year, when the company strangely announced it planned to sell its PC business, only to change its mind. As HP struggled and its decisions were scrutinized, the company opted to oust Apotheker and appointed former board member Meg Whitman to become the new CEO.
While the company will remain in the PC business, it did follow through on discontinuing its TouchPad tablet, and has ceased development of other hardware running the webOS mobile operating system it acquired from Palm. This week, HP published a timeline, committing to open source the webOS platform by this fall, making it available to run on a variety of devices and a platform for developers to utilize and expand upon.
While webOS will live on as an open source project, HP has exited the smartphone business, which left Rubinstein assigned to a "product innovation role" within the PC maker's Personal Systems Group. But that role was characterized as "his first step toward the exit," a source reportedly told Hesseldahl.
Prior to joining Palm, Rubinstein played an important role at Apple as the head of the company's iPod division. Rubinstein was instrumental in the creation of the iPod and discovered the portable hard drives that were used in the first models.
"Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well, HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan told Arik Hesseldahl of All Things D, who first broke the news. Rubinstein first joined HP when it acquired Palm in 2010, and he served a 12-24 month commitment at the company following the acquisition.
"Rubinstein's departure is no big surprise," Hesseldahl wrote. "Sources said he hadn't been seen at HP's offices following the decision by former CEO Leo Apotheker to get out of the business of making WebOS-based hardware. His future plans have been the subject of speculation for some time."
Apotheker was at the helm of HP last year, when the company strangely announced it planned to sell its PC business, only to change its mind. As HP struggled and its decisions were scrutinized, the company opted to oust Apotheker and appointed former board member Meg Whitman to become the new CEO.
While the company will remain in the PC business, it did follow through on discontinuing its TouchPad tablet, and has ceased development of other hardware running the webOS mobile operating system it acquired from Palm. This week, HP published a timeline, committing to open source the webOS platform by this fall, making it available to run on a variety of devices and a platform for developers to utilize and expand upon.
While webOS will live on as an open source project, HP has exited the smartphone business, which left Rubinstein assigned to a "product innovation role" within the PC maker's Personal Systems Group. But that role was characterized as "his first step toward the exit," a source reportedly told Hesseldahl.
Prior to joining Palm, Rubinstein played an important role at Apple as the head of the company's iPod division. Rubinstein was instrumental in the creation of the iPod and discovered the portable hard drives that were used in the first models.
Comments
Maybe he'll end up back at apple
"May I help you find something, ma'am"?
if he comes back to apple he'll need to get back into shape. too much palm and hp becomes toxic after a while.
He's had an amazing career, and he deserves some time off if he wants it.
Enjoy!
Why does that sound the same as someone discussing a prisoner being released at the end of their sentence?
I wonder if RIM will court him at all.
I wonder if RIM will court him at all.
I was going to say that - although it's highly unlikely.
...
"Rubinstein's departure is no big surprise," Hesseldahl wrote. "Sources said he hadn't been seen at HP's fofices following the decision by former CEO Leo Apotheker to get out of the business of making WebOS-based hardware. His future pans have been the subject of speculation for some time."
...
We're all relieved that Jon kept his pans out of HP's fofices...
Edit: On second thought... Maybe Jon kept his fofices in his pans...
We're all relieved that Jon kept his pans out of HP's fofices...
If you constantly look at the typos, Dick, you're going to lose fosuc of the real story in the atrilec.
If you constantly look at the typos, Dick, you're going to lose fosuc of the real story in the atrilec.
It may be too small of a market for Apple to focus on, but I bet it could be a profitable market if done right.
I think he should ask Apple for an OSX license and start a small company to build Pro workstations catering to academics, scientists, and graphics pros. Maybe also OSX servers.
And they'd laugh at him. No way will they license OS X.
I would love to see Rubinstein join Tony Fadell at Nest! Get the band back together again and change the world.
L.O.V.E. my Nest thermostat, btw. I really feel this is a direction Apple should be headed. So yes -- bring the band back together under one wing (Apple) and change the world!
L.O.V.E. my Nest thermostat, btw. I really feel this is a direction Apple should be headed. So yes -- bring the band back together under one wing (Apple) and change the world!
I'm hoping that Nest continues to expand into more home products.
-smoke detectors
-door locks
-sprinkler systems
-security cameras
etc.
If you constantly look at the typos, Dick, you're going to lose fosuc of the real story in the atrilec.
If you can't be bothered to take 5 seconds to spell check, you probably also can't be bothered to fact check, or even rumor check, and what you write is thus suspect. Not to mention, when writing about Apple, one should probably have a little pride in your craft. Lousy writing is more suited to lousy topics, say over at Cult of Android.
Gordon
(And it also serves as an example why porn should not be offered in ultra-high definition. Too Much Information!)