Former Apple software chief joins Elevation Partners 17
by Derek Kessler
Tue, 12 Jan 2010 8:50 pm EST
Tue, 12 Jan 2010 8:50 pm EST 
While the ranks of Palm are filling with more and more former Apple folk, with CEO Jon Rubinstein at the top, investment firm Elevation Partners is also busy picking up Apple people. While Elevation Partners isn’t in direct control of Palm, they do own 1/3 of the company and have invested a few hundred million dollars into Palm. Adding to Elevation’s board is former Apple chief software engineer Avie Tevanian. While at Apple, Tevanian was the head of Mac OS X development. Despite his pedigree, we aren’t expecting too much from Tevanian as far as Palm is concerned, as when he comes to Elevation he’ll be a managing director in charge of seeking out new investment opportunities for the firm.
[via: CNET]
17 Comments
Good Stuff
Steve Jobs has lost another... DUN DUN DUN.....
"Despite his pedigree, we aren
right!
Um, because it's Palm-related?
With the relative growth of the smart phone industry and mobile computing in general, I'm not surprised to see more investment in the field. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in another year or so with this kind of investment and their start from scratch approach.
WebOS is really coming into its own rapidly and with the new iPhone on the way, all the new Android devices, and Microsoft unveiling WM7 next month at MWC, it will be a great time to be a smart phone enthusiast.
OK, so Avie Tevanian won't be overseeing code etc.... sounds like joining the board of directors and heading up new investment for Palm's major share holder might have some value.......
Could have good tangential benefits...
Given that Elevation is a major Palm shareholder, Avie will want to leverage existing investments when evaluating new opportunities.
Long term, I view this as a big thumbs up for WebOS. That is, when the head of OSX development comes on board at Elevation where WebOS - via Palm - is a major part of their mobile portfolio.
Another bite out of Apple and another chip for Palm and WebOs. Woot!
Not really a bite out of Apple. Pre/Pixi are just becoming the phones that Apple built. Palm is looking in the right direction for talent!
webOS is sort of like NeXTSTEP was in the mid 90's. Innovative and gorgeous with a small market share. To me it feels like the rebirth of OS X for mobile technology, but not quite. More like a little brother that has the potential to out grow his older sibling :P
Ironically Tevanian was an engineer at NeXT. Very cool.
hugs and kisses...welcome!
maybe he has some kind of non compete cause in his contract. So he got on the board until that contract runs out.
Very good thought! Although, I am sure Steve wouldn't get too upset if Avie violated that non-compete thing, would he? :)
Armenian computer guys are so damn smart.
Either way it's all good news. Even if he's not actively developing (or shaping) things for Palm, as Elevation Partners have an invested interest in palm's future, I'm sure he'll have some leverage and an indirect influence on how both Palm and WebOS evolve.
This may be a parking lot for him before getting a new post. This happens a lot with high level folks in companies. In order to avoid lawsuits and accusations of inappropriate acquisition of protected intellectual property of Apple. Hiring technical leads on competing products usually raises a few legal eyebrows.