

An open letter to Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein - fredoliveira
http://helloform.com/blog/2010/01/open-letter-to-jon-rubinstein/

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sjs
I'm sure the people who actually work on webOS do and have looked at the
iPhone. It's nice to have a CEO like Jobs with clear vision for a product but
I don't think that's the case for the Pre.

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lurch_mojoff
Which is surprising given the fact that Rubinstein is not the MBA, parachuted
in from some other corporation, type of CEO. He is a technical person,
probably more of a technical manager than, say, a hands-on circuit designer,
but nonetheless he is a technical person. He was one at Apple, and he started
as the topmost one on the WebOS/Pre project at Palm. If I were to expect a CEO
to be closely managing the development of their company's product, that
certainly would be Jon Rubinstein.

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ZeroGravitas
Wasn't it Rubenstein that lost the battle within Apple to build the iPhone
with the iPod team on an embedded Linux platform?

If so then I can imagine he hasn't touched the iPhone. He's not some johnny-
come-lately that's wowed by the very idea of the iPhone but someone who has
fought for a different vision even before the iPhone existed.

I can imagine many such creators Intentionally don't bother themselves with
what their competitors are doing.

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aaronbrethorst
No, according to Gruber it was Tony Fadell:
<http://daringfireball.net/2008/11/executive_scuttlebutt>

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wgj
The comments below the article made good points:

 _pretty much everyone at Palm has actually used one, not to mention the fact
that lots of Palm’s engineers were copped from Apple… they most certainly know
what an iPhone is._

and

 _I think Rubinstein is distancing himself from the iPhone given the (very
real) possibility of them being sued by Apple. I would say he’s being
cautious._

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sahaj
is a lawsuit the reason for removing the button on the pre?

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growingaseed
He isn't saying that no one at Palm has ever used an iPhone. So I am not sure
him using one matters. If Jobs doesn't use a blackberry or a PC or Balmer
doesn't use an MAC or Larry doesn't use Sybase, it doesn't mean their
companies don't learn from the competitors.

~~~
jherdman
You're right in noting that Rubinstein did not say that _no one_ at Palm has
ever used an iPhone before. I can virtually guarantee you that any of the CEOs
you mentioned that are worth their weight in salt has at least tried the
products you mentioned. That is what the author is getting at. He's concerned
that Rubinstein has not used an iPhone _at all_.

As an aside, "a Mac" is a computer, "a MAC" is a network identifier.

~~~
jayliew
Seconded. Imho the person at the top has to really understand their product,
and understanding the capabilities and shortcomings your product includes
understanding the competitive landscape. Even if he doesn't compare his phone
to iPhone, his target market does.

The company is doomed if the guy doesn't understand their product - and the
competitive landscape.

I think he's lying through his teeth (and a bad liar at it), or he is
genuinely blind. I think it's the former.

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sachinag
It was a lie, a lie that came off the top of his head, to do the standard
thing of belittling/dismissing the competition. If anyone really believes he's
never touched an iPhone, I have floating mountains in Pandora I'll let you
mine for unobtanium. (Just cause I've run out of bridges to sell.)

Yes, we all want Palm's webOS to work. Google's Android system is great for
carriers - but it's already become painful for developers who can't just write
once any more. webOS is the only other mobile platform that provides the
certainty of user experience that iPhone OS does.

We all want Palm to make a goddamn touchscreen device that just works. An iPod
Touch type device would be great, as Dan Frommer pointed out. It's not _hard_
for Palm to do what they need to do; their first pass at the OS actually was
up to par. They just need to fucking execute on making some goddamn devices.

~~~
fredoliveira
A lie that may very well compromise his credibility, and that of his company.
But i'll take some of that produce of yours ;-)

