Fast Company names Jon Rubinstein a "Geek of the Year" 28
by Derek Kessler
Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:27 pm EST
Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:27 pm EST 
Entrepreneurial magazine Fast Company recently revealed their list of who they are calling the “Geeks of the Year”, (the year being 2009). And on that list is one Jon Rubinstein, who we know around here as the CEO of Palm, Inc. Fast Company’s reasoning behind bestowing such an, uh, honor on Rubinstein? Well, he was more or less responsible for ushering the Palm Pre and webOS to the masses and catapulting Palm back into the public eye. Rubinstein shares the Fast Company Geek of the Year list with the likes of Jens and Lars Rasmussen (the brains behind Google Wave), Star Trek director/producer/reimaginer J.J. Abrams, and Twitter cofounders Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
[via: The MX Web]
28 Comments
He looks like an evil geek!
He's in pretty good company. Lets see if he get Palm all the way back this year.
He can be a geek, a jerk, a prick.....whatever one wants to call Mr. Rubenstein....but as long as he keeps pushing out those updates....he is a GOOD man in my book.
I think that's a good picture of him.. Geeky with some leadership flare! Congrats Jon Rubinstein!
The flare is from the logo... though Ruby is a leader with flair.
It's official then, Ruby is a badass. Now all we need is some sort of epic film soundtrack to accompany this picture.
lol +1
Sorry to rain on the praise parade. He will lead Palm to destruction if he doesn't address severe product quality and customer service issues. I have been a Palm user with major high tech consulting service firms. His investors must make him focus on these issues.
"severe product quality and customer service issues," really? *eyeroll*
Consider this parade un-rained on.
Don't forget your umbrella.
+1 I love how the fan boys here continue to defend serious build quality flaws...
yes, except:
1) even if true, it doesn't affect the reasoning behind FastCompany's praise in the slightest.
2) even if true, most accounts have it as a first-run issue.
3) there's nothing but anecdotal evidence to support it as true. Palm (the source of actual data-backed information) has basically said that it's not any more faulty than any other product, and I'm inclined to believe them.
Mastercko,
You are providing facts. But facts mean nothing to these trolls. A lot of them are afraid that the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi phones are providing a growing threat to their mother ship. When their phone does not multi-task, or the user interface is counter intuitive, instead of them pressuring their favorite company to innovate, they hangout at PreCentral as if - if they can simply wish Palm or the Palm Pre away, their problems will be solved. So they come up with statements like "sorry to rain on the praise parade". These are the most disingenuous statements one could utter. It is amazing how some people lack integrity - and yet they feel at home in their own skin; wow!
I'm no fanboy. Curve survives broken trackballs. iphone survives shattered displays. Droid survives broken pivots. And some people are better off with Fisher Prices's My First Smartphone rather than Pre. The FP is shatter resistant and dishwasher safe.
Your post makes no sense! Man, get a life!
Oh, I hope you are enjoying your iPhone!
It appears that some of these trolls are being paid by the competition (or are employees) to sit at this site and other similar sites - and consistently talk about quality problems with Palm phones. And of course we expect them to reply "oh no, honestly, I..." as if they understand what honor means!
lol, I will say that was a good comeback. I know when I've been beaten with metaphors. 8^)
Thanks Palm for delivering a rock-solid, reliable, and fun product.
Thanks for reminding us of the opportunity to state why webOS is the most fun and innovative smart phone operating system on the market today. The reason for my excitement and optimism is based upon my experience owning a Palm Pre phone and the excitement I feel and see in the Palm community. This gives me confidence that 2010 is shaping up to be a big year for Palm.
Great leadership through Jon Rubinstein
A lot of credit goes to Jon Rubinstein, CEO of Palm, for delivering a great and innovative product... considered by many as the most innovative smart phone product of 2009, and arguably of all time!
Biggest release after the Palm Pre - webOS 1.3.5!
In 2009, some companies extolled the number of applications they have for their platform (i.e. their phone), but Jon Rubinstein focused in on the user experience. Case in point, after the release of the revolutionary Palm Pre smart phone in June 6, 2009, we suddenly learned that battery life was a major issue for most smart phone users in the cell phone market; and the Palm Pre was no exception. With the December 28, 2009 release of webOS 1.3.5, Palm showed it could address a major issue with aplomb. Battery on my Palm Pre now lasts about 3 times longer. And the Palm Pre now performs probably from 3 to 10 times faster, depending on the task you are running.
The Palm Pre is one reliable phone!
After owning 2 Palm Pre phones (wife and I) that were purchased over 6 months ago, both phones have been rock-solid! These phones have excellent build quality (you only appreciate it after owning the phone for some time). Simply wiping the phones make them look brand new! Palm's confidence in their products show - no wonder the Palm Pre and Pixi phones come with a 1 year warranty.
Is it me or does he always wear the same shirt at separate events?
While I'm sure that he has plenty of black and dark grey shirts in his wardrobe, it's also that the same pictures get reused quite a bit.
I'll take the same shirt every press conference, unwashed, over a guy wearing a turtleneck to present my company to the world.
Actually, I read that Einstein bought 6 suits - all looked alike. He did this so he would not waste time trying do decide on what suit he should wear each day.
You are looking at his shirt, what about his eyes? Have you noticed, his eyes are brown!
I always thought that glasses were part of any geek's uniform.
Hence, he ain't a geek.
Maybe he is wearing contact lenses. Does that still count?
that shirt was worn at the engadget show (sept 17th ) CES 2009.....Over under on him sporting same shirt jan 7th 2010?
Humm, doesn't Steve Job avoid showers and such as it will break his concentration on coming up with new ways to screw with apple users??
Rubinstein is making geek look pimp lol
Gotta love this pic.
He has this "Damn the torpedoes" look going.
Very inspiring.