Things must be getting a little weird at Palm right now, as every day seems to add a new piece to an already confusing puzzle. In just two weeks' time the company has gone from a potential
free agent, to a
lone wolf, and then back to
prospective purchase. Adding more noise to the proceedings,
TechCrunch is now reporting that another senior staffer has hit the road, and this time it's Caitlin Spaan, Palm's VP of carrier marketing. Her name gets added to what looks like a
growing list of recent Palm departures (not to mention that entire marketing department we hear has been canned). More troubling than that news, however, is a rumor which also appears on
TC suggesting that CEO (and putative savior of the company)
Jon Rubinstein may be on his way out as well. This report is pure hearsay at this point, but if true would be a major admission on Palm's part that its plans to kickstart the ailing company nearly two years ago are failing (or have just plain failed). Of course, we need to stress that this is just rumor at this stage -- the company offered no comment to
Business Insider -- and until we get more solid word, it should be treated as such. As for us, we're hoping the company can pull something salvageable together from this mess and figure out a way to compete at a level of increasingly
more difficult stakes.
Update: Apparently Jon showed up in a room of developers at the company's currently-ongoing dev camp
and said "I'm still here," to big laughs. Hang in there, man!
posted April 23rd 2010 6:30PM
Forcepalm
@Lord Vader I'm still depressed that HTC didn't reciprocate some possible Palm/HTC love. =(
@N900 Hence the forcepalm
@N900
I'm guessing Rubinstein gave this whole "We can go at it alone" spiel after HTC backed out. It was probably only after that would HTC say they weren't interested in Palm.
My guess is that below that shiny Touchstone sheen was some really ugly cancer.
HTC didn't get to this point by making rash and dumb moves.
We'll I heard Apple has a position open for an "Prototype phone testing Engineer" Jon should apply, after all he's worked for Apple before.
@victor Yeah, that's true. WebOS would have been awesome on a device.
Ah well, HTC still has amazing hardware, it's hobby OS, BREW, and it's doing just fine skinning Sense onto Android and WP6.
@Lord Vader you should go to Rubinstein and say to him "You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander, I'm here to put you back on schedule"
@Drago
Especially since he's yet to use an iPhone.
@cherryboom
Dude, get a new line. There's not denying HTC has made and is making some seriously sexy hadware. It's more than screen size and an 8mpx cam, it's the way the devices are built and presented.
@cherryboom Un-pout your lip, kid. I'm talking about their design and build. Have you seen their recent devices like the Legend or Desire? On the Legend, there is a back cover that when removed you can slide out the battery and SIM on a tray. The only other phone I've seen with that function was an SE phone from 2-3 years ago.
You seem to think that when I say "Amazing" I mean "Amazing as in HTC is the only company making since looking phones". Well that isn't the case. Motorola makes amazing phones too, Apple has made an amazing device, a couple of Samsung and LG phones look pretty cool too. I'm just saying that in this case, HTC has been more prominent.
The possibility of Rubinstein successfully navigating this asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1.
@Drago
Can you imagine what would happen if HE left a prototype behind?
@DJ Megatron
Well, if they go down, I'd be the last one to say they didn't fight the fight! That's incredible determination!
@N900 tis true
@DJ Megatron
Actually, if a WebOS prototype was left behind in a bar, one of two things would happen:
1) People might see that Palm IS actually trying to survive, and give them a fighting chance
or
2) No one will care
@SeeThreepio
oh god, i love where this is going.
@bo3of BWHAHAHAHAH!!!
@bo3of "I assure you, Lord Vader, my men are working as fast as they can."
"Engadget folk do not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation."
"Engadget folk are coming here? We shall redouble our efforts!"
"I should hope so, for your sake. Engadget folk are not as forgiving as I am."
I think they need to recruit some Applemanagement... If they have any money left.
@N900 HTC in the end decided to play it safe. It was a trade off between them believing they would take on Apple head on with proprietary hardware and software and risk the special relationship with Google, or focus on hardware and leave software to Google.
But given all the work HTC had done with UI design my guess is that HTC's pockets are not as deep as many believe.
Jon's case simply shows that Steve Jobs is a pretty unique guy.... Apple would never have released Palm Pre quality hardware. The software was great, but the phone was just cheap plastic. Very Dell like. Maybe Jon and Dell are buddies?
@Lord Vader It is a real shame to see bad execution kill an awesome product. The development team gets a bad rep even though they crated what is arguably the best mobile OS out to date. palm for sale reaction.
http://j.mp/palm-for-sale-reactions
@JonnyB
Oh, and you sir, are a funny fucker!
I enjoyed that very much :)
@Lord Vader The exec got palmed off.
@DJ Megatron
And what kind of device would that be? A netbook maybe? Oh no, netbooks, what a _bad_ idea, just as well they killed that one in the bud.
@Lord Vader I would feel sooooo bad if Jon R got booted just after ruining a company with a decent potential and strong stock price into a desperate pathetic mess.
@FORDY Ahahah Ty, too bad Engadget erased my total burn:( damn fuckers
@Lord Vader I like HP. They are a big and renowned brand and I trust they will make the right decisions. HTC couldn't have afforded 1.4 billion USD, that was their entire revenue for FY10 Q1!
So a gizmondo editor walks into a bar....what you guys know this one already?
I didn't know handheld gaming consoles had editors.
@broli
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmodo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmondo
heh heh
D: What is happening to Palm?!
@KirbyKoot401
Ship
Hole
Rats
Sinking.
I wonder how this will affect the AT&T launch.
@KirbyKoot401
They have a new phone coming out later summer (rumored C40) - it will be Palm's last gasp, hopefully they get the marketing right this time.
@AppleDrank
Ya, but at least they can do all those things at once.
@DrDr
Don't troll the troll friend. Especially when he doesn't happen to be trolling.
@lelander
A new phone. Goody! A revolutionary new design: a landscape slider with a touchsensitive area above the keyboard .. oh.
Ugh can they just figure out what the hell they're doing already? I wish HTC would get their OS.
@HurricaneDC
HTC will get WebOS. At a bargain price when the arrive.
@MikeWard1701
*HTC will get WebOS. At a bargain price when the administrators arrive.
VP of Carrier Marketing eh... should've left a long time ago.
@ToniCipriani It almost sounds like someone got fired more than they "left."
Obviously to make room for Josh to take over.
All joking aside (which is impossible when talking about Josh), I'd be willing to bet Josh and Paul could have run that company a sh1tload better than Rube and Co. Better commercials, for starters.
@Smart People Play Tuba
So you think the Commercials were the problem... no the fact that... Palm had no legitimate way to sync music with this device??
LOL
Remember the iTunes hacks? LOL bush league
@Wesscoast
Actually, you can perfectly well sync using Mass Storage mode, which is, believe it or not, something quite a number of people prefer above iTunes-ish ways of syncing. The iTunes thing was just a gimmick, mostly (if not completely) done for publicity.
@Wesscoast
Advertising (lack thereof, mainly) was definitely a problem. I don't think there's much argument there.
But imagine this: you're sitting on the couch, watching "Lost" reruns or something, and Josh Frickin' Topolsky comes on screen . . .
"Look, can I talk for a minute? I"m going to be straight with you. WebOS is . . . the best operating system out there, okay? I mean, at the end of the day, when you want a device that is OPEN . . . and can MULTITASK . . . I mean, HONESTLY multitask, okay? . . . then you want a WebOS device. I mean, look . . . at what all the stuff I can do with this phone, Okay?"
--actually shows phone doing stuff--
"I mean, look at this. It's great. And you know what? It won't break. I mean, it might break if you drop it or something stupid, but we totally redesigned the hardware so it's not all flimsy like the Pre was. I mean, this thing is rock. A ROCK, okay? You WANT this. Trust me, okay?"
@Smart People Play Tuba I'll take a dozen.
@Smart People Play Tuba
That sounds more like Vince (shamwow) than Josh :P
@lolwut
You need to listen to the Engadget podcast then.