It looks like a number of Palm executives are stepping down, or getting canned, after HP’s acquisition of the company back in April. Who is actually leaving, and specific reasons for leaving are unknown at this point, but as TechCrunch points out, “HP didn’t buy Palm for the management team.”
Clearly, HP decided to put in a bid for Palm because of their intellectual properties and WebOS, with the intention to “double-down” on the mobile operating system. Palm just recently lost two WebOS developers to Apple and Google, so it looks like employees of Palm may still feel as if it’s a sinking ship, even post HP acquisition. While we don’t know exactly when the execs will be stepping down, it’s expected to be sooner than later. Maybe HP just wants to get them out, and get their own execs comfortable?
Although the man said he believed that Palm could have survived on its own as a company, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein will stay with the company, but likely not keep his CEO thrown. For now, at least. Rubinstein was employed at HP in the 1980’s, so maybe they just have a soft spot for the guy. HP may just be cleaning house at this point, and attempt into diving into the WebOS platform after they get their top 8 configured just the way they like it.
Whatever comes of this, I think people will be very interest in what HP intends to do with the WebOS. Obviously, we’re going to be expecting a WebOS tablet at some point, and now with the multitasking mobile OS in tow, HP may actually be able to come up with some decent looking smartphones that aren’t bricks. Hopefully we’ll see some of HP’s touch in Palm’s products soon, but until then, we can expect the same from Palm, which is too little too late.
But hey, maybe Palm has a last hurrah somewhere in there.
[Via: TechCrunch]