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Palm's Colligan rebuffs Steve Jobs' 'likely illegal' plea to stop hiring from Apple
Imagine the scene two years ago, August 2007 to be precise. Palm was busy preparing to launch its Foleo and the OS that would save Palm was still expected to be coming from ACCESS. In fact, things were looking so bad for Palm in August that we penned an intervention letter that then CEO Ed Colligan responded to. Apple, for its part, was still enjoying the glow of the golden halo rising above its iPhone launched just over a month prior with the help of 2% of Palm's hired workforce, according to Bloomberg. Oh, and Apple had just lost Jon Rubinstein, the man leading its iPod division, to Palm.Now Bloomberg is reporting that Steve Jobs approached Palm's Ed Colligan in August 2007 with a proposal to refrain from hiring each other's staff (read: quit poaching our employees, Ed!). Colligan refused, saying,Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal.Meeeow.
Jon Rubinstein's new salary: $850,000 per year, Pre-tax
The Palm Pre might not be a million dollar idea, but it's close. It'll bag Jon Rubinstein, Palm's new CEO, a cool $850,000 in salary each year according to Palm's Form 8-K just released. Pretty weak sauce for corporate CEOs until you factor in his 100% annual bonus eligibility and stock option grant of 430,000 shares vested monthly over the next 4 years. Given that Rubinstein has been credited with saving Palm from itself, we'd say he's worth every penny. Former CEO Ed Colligan, on the other hand, the man who laughed off the iPhone in November 2006 saying, "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in," will receive $1.2 million just for leaving the seat warm upon exit.Read [warning: PDF]
Jon Rubinstein takes over as Palm CEO
You sort of knew this was coming after he shepherded the Pre to launch, but Palm just announced that Jon Rubinstein is taking over as CEO, replacing Ed Colligan after sixteen years in the top spot. After a short break, Colligan will join the very vocal Roger McNamee at major Palm investor Elevation Partners, so he won't be totally out of the loop, but the shuffle is still somewhat unexpected -- and the Palm / Apple bloodlines just got even deeper with the Rubinstein, the ex-head of the iPod and Mac divisions, now totally in charge.[Via Brighthand]
Palm's done with PalmOS, plans to get Pre on other carriers in 2010, speaks to patent issues
In a talk with investors Palm CEO Ed Colligan dropped a whole ton of previously undisclosed facts about Palm and the Pre. First off, he mentioned that other than the Centro making its way to other carriers, there will be no more PalmOS devices from Palm; they're concentrating completely on webOS and Windows Mobile. They also clarified that they have partnerships with carriers in Canada, Latin America and Europe for the Pre, and that they plan on expanding in the US to carriers outside of Sprint in 2010. As far as patents go, Palm doesn't sound too worried, citing 15 years of patents in the bank, a desire to respect intellectual property, and the fact that no action has taken place between Palm and Apple in that department.
Palm CEO says Europe gets Pre in the first half, too
According to the press materials, Palm hadn't intended to announce a timeframe for the 3G GSM version of the Pre this week, but Ed Colligan can pretty much do and say whatever he pleases -- it's one of the perks of wearing the CEO hat -- and he's apparently mentioned in an interview with IDG that it'll roll out in the first half of 2009. That puts the model right in line with the launch window for the CDMA-based Sprint version, giving the carrier virtually zero exclusivity on the global stage -- so if 1337 h4x0rz can figure out how to unlock the thing (and if we were betting folk, we'd wager they can), this all means EDGE-only Pres could end up on AT&T and T-Mobile USA lickety-split. Even if that means losing the European 3G guts, you know you'd buy it. Come on now, don't lie to yourself.
Palm OS 2 slipping from "early 2009" to "first half" of next year?
The New York Times has a little puff piece on Palm to accompany the launch of the Treo Pro today, and buried between the fawning references to Jon Rubinstein's former gig at Apple and how that's affected his management style ("He made them redesign the battery panel on the back so it didn't squeak. And he asked for fixes to the software so it would lock up less frequently." -- solid work, homey) there's a little tidbit about how Palm OS II and a single new device to run the new software will arrive in the "first half of next year." Two things interesting about that: first, that's a much wider timeframe than the "early 2009" window we've been hearing for a while and could signal even more delays, and second, it's a little odd that Palm is going to debut the new OS on just one device. Launching on a single device is pretty Apple-esque, so we'll cut Rubes some slack on that, even if we don't think it's the best idea -- but at this point the only real info we're hearing about Palm OS II is news of delays, and that's not exactly out of the Jobs playbook -- remember, real artists ship.
Palm Centro eclipses 2 million mark, Colligan totally cool with that
Palm's nailed a bona fide runaway success just in the nick of time with its Centro series, hitting its second million in global sales in about half the time it took to reach the first million (thanks in no small part to a new round of carrier launches, we'd imagine). Makes sense: it's small, it's really reasonably priced for a smartphone, and while it's not stylish by any stretch of the imagination, it still manages to beat the pants off the Treo line's tired, buttoned-up look. CEO Ed Colligan's using the opportunity to thumb his nose at the competition a bit, though, and that's where we get a little worried. Instead of hearing things like "whew, thank goodness, the Centro gave us the cash infusion we desperately needed to fuel work on Palm OS 2 and a compelling product line revamp," we're seeing him spout off about how the Centro's easier to use and "less pretentious" than the iPhone, ribbing Apple over the fact that the Centro's been 3G since the beginning, and talking about how easy it is to get the 411 on your peeps with the Centro's supposedly best-in-class Facebook app. It's great to be proud of a successful product, no doubt, Ed -- but let's not forget that your most direct competitor, RIM, isn't exactly standing still. Can we trade this revelry and trash talk for even a super-brief Palm OS 2 demo, pretty please?
Palm announces Q4 earnings -- it's not as bad as you think
Palm continued to flaunt its almost inexplicable boost in health in an earnings call yesterday. According to reports, honcho Ed Colligan boasted of a 29 percent gain in smartphone sales year-over-year, largely in part to the stellar performance of the company's budget-priced (with contract) Centro. In light of the recent negative outlook from investors, retail store closings, a constantly delayed OS update, and fierce competition, it's a pretty impressive feat to not only stay afloat, but manage some small victories. Now if they can just deliver on those OS and device promises we keep hearing about, they may stay in this game yet.[Via Palm Infocenter]
Ed Colligan speaks about Palm OS 2.0
While Palm's CFO Andy Brown wasn't exactly forthcoming with details about its elusive next-gen OS, a recent interview with top dog Ed Colligan revealed quite a bit about codename Nova. As if it wasn't official enough already, we're told that Palm OS 2.0 (which is also not the final moniker) will indeed be Linux-based, and Ed continued to say that it would be "driven around the internet and web-based applications." Of course, a Palm interview wouldn't be a Palm interview without at least some mention of the now-defunct Foleo, and the bigwig left a crack in the rumor drawer by stating that he "still believed the idea would be vindicated some day." Trust us, there's way more where this came from, so head on down to the read link if your interest is piqued.
Palm CEO Ed Colligan says "We're working on it," promises "breakthrough" devices
Palm's latest quarterly results might have been pretty gloomy, with a loss of $9.6M on revenue of $349M and an expected drop in revenue to $310M next quarter, but according to CEO Ed Colligan, the ship is about to be righted. Speaking to analysts during the company's financial results conference call, Colligan said that a combination of cost-cutting measures, a reduction in the number of devices in Palm's lineup, and work on the next Palm OS would revive Palm's flagging fortunes. Ed also said that there was "no acceptable excuse" for missing the launch of the Treo 755p on Verizon in Q4, and that Palm was "done" revising existing products -- instead focusing on "breakthrough" devices and "revolutionary designs." We can only hope he's telling the truth -- and of course, we've got some suggestions for him if he's out of ideas.
Palm's Ed Colligan hypes new OS to investors
Our main man Ed Colligan is on the scene once again, this time giving some serious lip service to investors on the future of Palm and its "upcoming" new OS. According to reports, Ed informed the the crew of dudes and dudettes (via the company's Q1 FY08 conference call) that the Centro systems team and Foleo engineers are "totally focused" on delivering the Linux-based OS (Palm's in-house work, not ACCESS's ALP), and announced that it will be available by the end of the next calendar year. Fleshing out his bold statements, Colligan noted that the new platform will retain the ease of use and developer support of the badly ailing current Palm OS, and that it will enable the company to deliver the UI across various products, including Foleo-like devices. The Palm honcho went on to say that development has gone, "As well as possibly could be expected," and added that the company has no plans to hand over the smartphone market to anyone else, telling investors that its next generation of products will be "revolutionary device types." Just like Fox Mulder, we want to believe -- but it's going to take a lot more than honeyed words to hold our interest, Ed. Hey -- feel free to invite us over to the pad for some hands-on.
Palm shareholders approve Elevation Partners sale
In a move that could be described as "totally unsurprising," Palm shareholders have approved the much-discussed partial sale of the company to a private equity firm called Elevation Partners (of which Bono is a member), and also a change in the board of director's makeup. The plan, if you'll recall, is for Mr. MacPhisto and co. to pay $325 million for a 25-percent stake in the company, while Palm itself will pay out a $9 per-share distribution of cash to current shareholders for a reduction in ownership. There will also be a new executive board chair, namely, Johnathan Rubenstein, an Apple alumni who ran the iPod devision from 2004-2006. Fred Anderson (another former Apple officer), and Roger McNamee (a Silicon Valley investor) will also join the board. Our man Ed Colligan said of the switch, "There are a lot of moving parts here, but the goal is to bring in a transformation and change the dynamics of the company," er... okay. Apparently, Palm has hopes that Mr. Rubenstein will help create "innovative products" and "bring them to market quickly." In our dreams guys, in our dreams.
Palm says Foleo still on schedule... for Summer
It seems possible that Palm took our advice when we asked the company to "stop keeping us in the dark," because the last few days have been filled with transparency. The latest bit of see-through from the PDA-maker comes today in the form of a denial concerning the recent Barron's news that the company's sorta-kinda-laptop, the Foleo, would be delayed due to syncing problems. According to Palm's director of communications, Jim Christensen, "As stated on May 30, U.S. availability for the Palm Foleo mobile companion will begin this summer. We will let you know if this changes," which runs contrary to rumored street dates for the laptop, and to what Deutsche Bank analyst Jonanthan Goldman reported on Wednesday. The company has had its share of activity over the past two weeks, including solid news on the tiny new Centro (AKA the Gandolf), rumored delays for the Foleo, and of course our gentle prodding. We can only hope all this movement, good or bad, is working as a wake-up to Colligan and co.
Palm's Ed Colligan responds to our open letter!
Ok, so we totally weren't expecting this one, but Palm's CEO Ed Colligan publicly responded to our open letter to Palm. He's brief, but he cuts to the quick: "I forwarded it to our entire executive staff and many others at Palm have read it. ...We are attacking almost every challenge you noted, so stay tuned." Wow, um, alright, we'll do just that. Granted, we'd prefer it if Ed would engage us in a chat about the future of Palm -- you name the time and place, Ed, we're totally there! (It's probably worth noting that he's turned down multiple interview requests with us in the past, so you'll all know right quick if that whole transparency thing changes any.)Read - Our open letter to PalmRead - Ed Colligan's response
Palm's Ed Colligan: Foleo is the Wii of portable computing
We've seen Jeff Hawkins' -- the synaptic guns behind the Palm Pilot, Handspring, and Treo -- take on the ill-received Foleo. Now we've got the thoughts from his boss, Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm, Inc. As you'd expect, Ed toe the party line with the "mobile companion" spin. He even compares it to the PS3 vs. Wii battle, citing "technology overload" as the mysterious (and massively oversimplified) force that will drive people to Palm's new platform as it has the Wii. Ed also tells us that Palm will be providing the tools to developers after which he expects, "very quickly, there'll be thousands of applications" for the Linux-based Foleo. Hey Colligan man! We get it, but we still don't think it's a good idea. Though if only for nostalgia sake, we'd love to be wrong. See the video after the break.
Palm prepping its own Linux-based OS
Just a few years late, Palm is finally getting ready to land its users onto a modern Palm-built OS. Ed Colligan, in his Investor Day keynote today, announced that Palm will be launching a homegrown Linux-based OS by the end of the year, with Opera for a browser and the recently acquired Chattermail for messaging. Palm has been secretly at work on this OS for a number of years, and does not plan to license it to other manufacturers. Colligan also says that Palm is going to continue Windows Mobile product releases, and thanks to that handy Garnet license, Palm will be able to show its "commitment to the Palm OS community" by merging Palm OS 5.4 support into its Linux kernel. So, no more ALP dreams for the Palm kids, but this isn't a total surprise either, rumors had been brewing that Palm had something like this up its sleeve -- we just hope it's not too little, 'cause it certainly seems to be too late. On the hardware side, Palm is working on platforms that can be used with either OS, which should speed development time and supposedly result in more device releases, including an expanded product portfolio "to address user segments." What, you mean not every consumer wants a chubby Treo that looks just like every other Treo since the 650? We're shocked! Read - Ed Colligan keynote Read - Palm announces new Linux-based OS
Palm's Ed Colligan laughs off iPhone
"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone," Ed Colligan apparently laughed about with John Markoff last Thursday morning. "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in." Ed, baby, sweetheart, a couple quick reminders. First: it's not hard to beat "decent," especially when your phones are on the 2004 cutting edge of design and you still haven't managed to slim it like a Q or WiFi it like an HTC. Second: PC guys already did figure it out -- that's why you're running Windows Mobile on your phones, remember? Not that we really have to continue, but third: as John Hodgman and Justin Long would have us remember, the sad, disgruntled differences between "PC guys" and Mac guys tend to transcend borders and cultures. Gates isn't Jobs, and Steve's phone certainly isn't going to be riddled with the same issues as our beloved WinMo. No, the iPhone will have its own set of annoying issues, but believe you us, Ed, Apple will "just walk in," so you'd better have a few and-one-more-thing-s up those sleeves of yours if you're thinking about stopping a mass defection.[Via PalmInfocenter]
