Colligan out, Rubinstein in as Palm CEO
Despite being the man who led the charge of the Pre and webOS after a 9 year tenure at Apple, it still came as a bit of a surprise when Palm announced that Jon Rubinstein will be assuming the role as CEO starting tomorrow. After everything Palm has been through, now is when it makes a major change at the top? Taking over the position that has been held by Ed Colligan for the past sixteen years, Rubinstein will be entrusted with ensuring the company stays on the straight and narrow as it attempts to re-establish itself as a major player in the smartphone market. As for Colligan, he will join Roger McNamee at Elevation Partners, a major financial backer of Palm, after a much needed hiatus.
I would think it is safe to read quite a bit into the launch of the Pre by this move. It will be interesting to see what follow-on sales are like…or aren’t.
(a BoD doesn’t replace a successful CEO)
My Pre ate Iphones for breakfast, lunch, and supper yesterday. I’m worried it will impact its gorgeous, elegant, un-Iphonish shape.
If I were Apple, I would be worried about Jon and Palm and the Pre.
I would say the Pre is eating into, not eating up, iPhone territory
I think its going to hurt RIM more than apple.
If this had been the “new bb” folks would harldy be able to contain themselves.
Good move for Palm.
Real test for apple will be when webos shows up on ATT
It was time for Ed Colligan to step down. Since the Treo 650 to the Centro, all Palm Treos looked the same. What was so special about them as the years went by?
RIM went from the scroll wheel to the track ball to touch screen to an optical track ball?? WOW
Apple & Steve Jobs never created a smartphone, and well the rest is history.
I like Palm but chanage was long over due. I don’t know if Rubinstein is the answer but based on the Pre’s s buzz, it’s worth a shot.
Whoever Palm has as a CEO, they need to push the envelope. So far, nice job Palm!
I can see Palm already eating up Rims market share like crazy, i don’t see them hurting Apple though, cause there’s a bunch of stuff the New iphone does that the current Pre don’t do and as soon as Apple introduces Multi tasking the Pre will lose a lot of its glory. But again iPhone users owe a lot to Palm cause if it wasn’t cause of the Pre Apple wouldn’t be thinking of multi tasking.
@ keymaker:
I agree for the most part, though a this point, I don’t see Palm taking too much market share from RIM. That could change in the future very easily, but I just don’t see it happening here.
AS for the the last portion of your comment, I find it ironic that most people tout Apple as though it is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that everyone else is trying to play catch-up, but in the case of multi-tasking, it appears as though Apple is the one playing catch-up. For as advanced as the iPhone was and is, it is still trying to catch to the other major players in many aspects.
rimm is gonna have the heat on them when webos arrives on every carrier. Same boring os over n over, apple has nothing to worry about just like McNamme said on fox business palm doesn’t not need to beat apple. I left my iphone and my thousand of apps for a phone with little to no apps, I love it tho.
Without a fanboy response from either side, how is the Palm Pre, really? I haven’t even seen the device in person, so I have never even had a chance to see more than what I get from the various websites.
Its great, the software is great for a 1.0 device and sprint is good too. Its in the league with the iphone no doubt about it. Like I said rimm and windows mobile should be shittin bricks.
Dear Mr. CEO
webOS should be developed on a recongifured HTC Touch Pro2 w/better CPU and capacitive touch. Maybe sell HTC and other makers licenses to develop webOS devices? Build a client portfolio … diversify. Good luck with future devices.
JBundyLive
P.S. The Pre’s keyboard is too small. I get claustrophobic just thinking about it. It’s too cramped. webOS is nice, though.
palm/sprint are laughing about this iphone 3 gs outrage im sure-especailly the way att is treating current customers on the new iphone upgrades-the palm pre is def being considered by me just waiting to see if the screen dead pixel issue gets resolved-question??? is the upgrade price/eligible guidelines by apple or att-talked to a rep on mon said i was eligible-talked to 2 ppl yesterday and they said no i wasnt-said it was all apples fault and if they gave someone an upgrade that didnt have one then they would be fired on spot-my question to her was who is gonna buy it? no response-i mean they could give ppl 2 months free service to offset the upgrade pricing if it is all apple’s fault-very poor way to treat paying customers and this wont be easily forgiven-just wait till verizon gets one
@AgBand, Yeah but keep in mind that although Apple is still trying to catch with multitasking, most of of the other units except for the Pre can’t even browse the web without chocking, after being in business for years. Apple needs Multitasking and Palm needs.
Better hardware.
More Apps.
Visual voicemail.
Needs Compass.
Street View in Google Maps.
Can’t copy uneditable text (e.g., most parts of websites).
no data transmission during calls (e.g., no GPS navigation during calls).
no internet tethering.
video recording.
Most of those issues Apple has resolve in the 3.0 software, so again Palm too has a lot to catch up to.
@keymaker
palm can/will do those updates sooner than apple will-no one remembers when iphone 2g came out it had no apps
what do you need a compass for?? are you playing army?
@ joe, Not really, or do you think every Sprint customer qualifies for the $199 price on the Pre. Why would AT&T and Apple sell the new iPhone dirt cheap when they know anyone can get at least $500 for a old iPhone on ebay? one good example is, my wife got $488 for her almost one year old 16GB iphone on ebay, so although she don’t qualify for $199 price, she can now grab the 32GB model and will only cost her about $12, something she already did since AT&T is taking pre-orders.
fair enough, but y would someone pay that much for an almost 1 year old phone??? Bottom line is att messed this one up. I just want to know who will be able to buy the phone at the eligible upgrade price-if you havent had an iphone y would you switch now for these minor upgrades- i mean att cant even handle the 7.2 it is capable of
@keymaker
You really reaching for some of these catch up.
You can’t use data and be on a call because of sprints CDMA net work when it comes to ATT in 6 months it will work just fine.
Video recording and tethering, will trickel down the pipe in no time…evan with iphones 3.0 AT&T still isn’t allowing tethering just yet.
Google comented on webOS saying they really lile the idea that they can update there app from there end with out you having to download anything into the phone. So Gmaps with street view won’t be to far off also
As for more apps you can run all the old palm os apps on the pre till they get more webOS apps and around 20,000 palm os apps right now!
Juice, data while talking isn’t a necessity but I am going to try on BM’s Pre with the background app it might be possible
@joecool,
The compass is being used for the maps on the new iPhone as well as GPS for turn by turn navigation. On the maps if press the location icon on the bottom left of the screen it drops the pin marker. Press it again and it will show the direction you are facing. As far as the HSPA 7.2 Mbps, ATT is currently working on upgrading to this. Apple knew this and when it happens the new iPhone will be ready for it.
Back on topic, I wish Mr. Rubenstein well in his new position. As for the iPhone killer comments, competition leads to better devices, and the cell phone market is big enough for all these new devices. In the end we have more and better choices as consumers. So if you think about it, it’s a win win situation.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).
@ cliff so why not wait till next year when its ready?
Anybody think this might have an impact on Androids popularity? It has taken Google way too long to put out other phones with the OS since the G1’s release
Google’s Android was/is a good product. But, unfortunately for Google, the functionality of Palm’s new WebOS is revolutionary and it blows Android away. So, for those ready to jump ship from RIM or Apple, Palm is really stealing the nascent Android market share as many of the would-be Androis converts are now moving to Palm’s WebOS. Apple will lose directly right now from the Pre’s success, and it will stunt Android’s popularity considerably. But, when a WebOS device is on all of the big carriers, RIM’s consumer unit is going to need to up their game with a major innovation in the OS, or else they will be severely hit.
I will hold my judgement on Rubenstein, but he is not the guy I would immediately glorify. Let’s see how they do with him running the show. This is a pivital time.
Iphone ahead of Pre on hardware. Don’t think so. You must like large, clunky devices.
@joecool,
I agree with your statement, but since Apple releases a new iPhone once a year, they probably wanted to get a jumpstart before ATT rolls out their HSPA network.
Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).
why does the pre NEED a compass, last time i checked sprint nav gave you direction, im guessing it also needs fart apps too