News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

June 4, 2007

business

Former Apple execs high five Palm

Posted Jun. 4, ’07, 8:50 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Business

Fred Anderson and Jon RubinsteinPalm’s kind of the tech industry equivalent of Madonna. Both were big when they first hit the scene, but as times have changed, they’ve found themselves left behind as the world has moved on. Even though both try to reinvent themselves frequently, most of these permutations provoke nothing more than a bored yawn. And, let’s face it: they’re easily confused.

So we greet the news that Palm is getting $325 million and a couple new board members with one finger in the air (your traditional whoop-dee-doo motion). Okay, we’re a little jaded, we’ll admit it. Palm’s new sugar daddy is none other than Elevation Partners, whose partners include not only iPod special edition inspiration Paul Hewson, but also former Apple CFO and finger-pointer Fred Anderson. In return for their investment, Elevation will get a 25% stake of Palm, and presumably, free Treos.

In other news, former Apple SVP of Hardware, Jon Rubinstein, will become Palm’s executive chairman of the board. Rubinstein played a big part in the development of the iPod and the iMac, and was head of the iPod division when it was first spun off in 2004. He left Apple last year, and—we hear—has been wandering the streets of Silicon Valley, looking for something to do. Maybe he can turn the Foleo into something useful. Good luck, Jon.


1 Comments

Sramana Mitra said:

I'm not quite writing Palm off yet. My analysis is here:
http://sramanamitra.com/blog/1085.

June 4, 2007 9:24 AM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: