Palm's Entire Team of Senior VPs Has Resigned
It looks like Palm's team of senior VPs didn't like their new home at HP, as they've all upped and left.
It's been a rough year for Palm. The company's Pre and Pixi smartphones didn't sell as well as it had initially hoped; and over the summer, CEO Jon Rubinstein handed the keys to the company HQ over to Hewlett Packard for a cool $1.2 billion. Rubinstein was "thrilled by HP's vote of confidence in Palm's technological leadership," but it seems other senior members of staff at Palm were less than ectastic.
Both TechCrunch and Engadget cite sources who say Peter Skillman, the VP responsible for designing the Palm Pre has left the company. Though the loss of Skillman (his full title was 'Vice President of Design') is notable in itself, it's more notable because he was the last senior VP left at Palm. Over the summer we've been hearing a lot about SVP departures at Palm. TechCrunch even predicted a mass exodus and it appears they were right: Engadget reports that Palm now has no Senior VPs left, as Skillman joins Michael Abbot, Mike Bell, Lynn Fox, Matias Duarte, Rich Dellinger, and Caitlin Spaan.
Mr. Skillman has 20 years of design experience and is walking away from 11 years of work at Palm.
More on TechCrunch and Engadget.
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i would have quit too
HP would have probably got rid of them sooner or later, deeming them redundant or something, but still...its a little sad to see things go the way it has...
Sometimes its better to get rid of the old to make way for new talent. Maybe Palm wasn't doing so well for a reason...
I worked for Digital. Compaq acquired us, and then HP acquired Compaq. The common experience of companies acquired by HP is that within a few years HP has integrated what it wants from your company and then dumps the other products and lays off the remaining employees. It's not pretty being acquired by HP.
HP is going to ruin Palm, just as they've done with every other company they've acquired.
If i have learned anything from infinity ward vs activision, this may spawn a new company. While perhaps a pipedream, having some of the folks that made palm an innovative company branch off to reinvigorate the cell market would be very welcomed in my eyes.
Can I submit my resume!?!
Sad to see these talents flow out of the company, but then these talents may go on and form a new company that can upend the market as we know it.
Ha! Who wants to bet that Palm's top brass are all about to get found out for something?!
It was inevitable. HP bought them, if they had not resigned, it would only be a matter of time before HP let them go anyway. I guarentee you this was discussed and planned long before the HP deal took place. For top officials, this is normal, and part of the risk for being at the top. No news here at all.
I worked for Digital. Compaq acquired us, and then HP acquired Compaq. The common experience of companies acquired by HP is that within a few years HP has integrated what it wants from your company and then dumps the other products and lays off the remaining employees. It's not pretty being acquired by HP.
That's pretty much standard procedure for most companies. They get the company, integrate, then fire everyone who over the past few months worked really hard to make their jobs redundant. They don't need the upper management. They hardly need the design people. They want the IP, the Products, the Customer base, etc.
That's pretty much standard procedure for most companies. They get the company, integrate, then fire everyone who over the past few months worked really hard to make their jobs redundant. They don't need the upper management. They hardly need the design people. They want the IP, the Products, the Customer base, etc.
Exactly. If you are a salaried employee, and especially if you are part of management, or the accounting team, and your company gets aquired, you are fool if you think your place is still secure, I don't care what they tell you. If your salary is above the curve, you are not going to be around for long.
Yah - The rule of thumb is:
"If The Aquiring Company Has a Similar Job/Title/Function Already On Their Side Of The Fence, Then The Best Thing You Can Do Is Smile And Be Friendly While You Feverishly Search For New Employment.... Elsewhere"
It's far better to handle it on your own terms, than accept whatever's handed to you later on.
Skillman wasn't much of a loss. he was really a yes-man that did whatever Ruby told him. before that, he did whatever Ed told him to, and before that Donna at Handspring. hopefully his overly inflated self image will get him another gigantic paycheck somewhere else that he doesn't deserve it.