Palm’s Jon Rubinstein gets the hell out of HP

HpJon Rubinstein, of both Apple and Palm fame, has decided to get the hell out of dodge:

Rubinstein is said to have no immediate plans, and had completed a 12-24 month commitment to stay with HP after the acquisition. “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well,” HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan said. In a brief comment to AllThingsD, Rubinstein said, “I am going to take a well deserved break after four and a half years of developing webOS.”

After Léo Apotheker, ex-CEO of HP, essentially killed WebOS, I can imagine Jon wasn’t very happy. While HP’s current CEO, Meg Whitman, is open sourcing WebOS, the project he spent so much time developing isn’t on firm legs.

Of course, Jon is well known for working with Apple and helping to develop the iPod. It’s a shame that such a smart guy and his passion project got wiped out because of terrible management at the top of HP. That said, we’ll probably see something great in the not-too-distant future from Jon. He’s a brilliant guy, and it seems like he has many more years of innovation left in him.

What do you think about his departure? Is WebOS completely dead now? Sound off by leaving a comment below this post. We’re curious about what you think.

Source: All Things D

Grant is a writer from Delaware. In his spare time, Grant maintains a personal blog, hosts The Weekly Roar, hosts Quadcast, and writes for video games.