Jon, I Know You’re Not a Big Fan of the Foleo, but Please Stop Taking Calls on Your iPhone–at Least During Board Meetings.
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 4, 2007 at 11:21 AM PT
If the Foleo truly is the best idea Palm founder Jeff Hawkins has ever had, then accepting a $325 million investment from Elevation Partners is a good move, because the smart-phone pioneer needs all the help it can get.
This morning Palm said it would sell a 25% stake to the private-equity firm Elevation Partners as part of a deal that will bring two former Apple executives on board. Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s former head of hardware who helped oversee the creation of the iPod and the iMac, will join Palm as executive chairman and head up product development. Former Apple CFO Fred “Fredo” Anderson, a partner at Elevation, will take a seat on Palm’s board. The pair’s involvement in Palm comes as Apple prepares to bring the iPhone to market on June 29, an event certain to shake up the smart-phone sector–if only a bit.
“The mobile-device market is still in [its] early days,” Elevation partner Roger McNamee told The Wall Street Journal. “This is a rare culture of innovation. From our perspective, I can’t imagine a more exciting situation.”
I can. Working on Apple’s iPhone team. That said, it’s got to be reassuring to have someone like Rubinstein, who helped launch one of the most commercially successful electronics gadgets in the past decade, heading up new product development–especially when you’re trying to nail the device category between subnotebook PC and PDA with an adult LeapPad-sized smart phone.
Comments
Jon and Fred are both very bright guys. Looks like really good news for Palm.
Posted by Mike Evangelist at June 5th, 2007 at 7:41 am