Jeff Finkelstein, Sr Product Manager of Multimedia, Leaves Palm 57
Here's another name to add to the growing list in of Palm employees heading out, pre-acquisition: Jeff Finkelstein, Sr Product Manager of Multimedia. Finkelstien, whose awarded patents while at Palm include "Data Synchronization to and from removable memory on a handheld device" and "Method and apparatus for power management" left Palm at the end of may after a 7 year stint to join UStream as Director of Product Management. If you haven't been keeping track, other recent big name departures include SVP of Software and Services Mike Abbot, VP of Human Interface and User Experience Matias Duarte, Rich Dellinger (who created webOS' glorious notification system) and VP of PR, Lynn Fox.
All of these high-level departures could certainly be cause for alarm, but if Palm's CEO and soon to be head of HP's smartphone/mobility unit Jon Rubinstien could build such a high caliber team before at Palm (and before that at Apple), I suspect that he's capable of doing it again.
Source: LinkedIn; Thanks to Brian for the tip!
57 Comments
I wish him well...
Another one bites the dust. Damn something must be going on at Palm that people are not liking. Doesn't look good.
Something? They're being acquired. That's a lot of "Vice Presidents" that dont care to see "Manager" on their new business cards.
Small fish/big pond. Find a smaller pond.
Here are some things to consider:
1) Palm was a nice small company with a good team. HP is a huge company that is a leader in many tech segments. Perhaps they have a better team in this area with more talent and a deeper bench. If so, it's a plus for future webOS products.
AND
2) If webOS was the reason for the purchase what's the point of putting data to sync to removable memory on a mobile device. Clearly, HP wants the cloud to be the focus and it sounds to me like there's no fit between strategy and current job responsibility. If this is a true statement then this is no loss and does not impact future webOS products.
So, there are two scenarios where the sky is not falling for Palm or should I say HP's Mobile Products Group (MPG).
Another day, another obituary.
So was it this guy who staged the iTunes fight?
>>"Data Synchronization to and from removable memory on a handheld device"
HotSync was from computer to the fixed storage.
That sounds more like CardExport and MSExport on the CLIE devices.
Didn't it also synch SD? I recall some extended HS sessions only to find it was putting music on my work PC.
This announcement doesn't surprise me. Jeff called me back in October to talk to me about Music Player (Remix). He was then assigned to me as my developer liaison (handler). But soon afterwards I hardly heard from him. I would send him emails and they went unanswered for months (literally). The last I heard from him he forwarded my email to Chuq. So I had the impression that he didn't have much interest in Palm developer relations and maybe even Palm itself.
But now when I have a question, I just email the development relations team email address and I always get a prompt response from either Chuq or Judy.
I think the people who are staying with Palm are the ones that will really care about the brand and their products. And I'm sure Palm will bring in new talent. There are a lot of bright people out there that are looking to make their mark. And I think Palm is a great place to do it.
That is one way to look at it. The other is to say that when the future is dim, the best people depart first (because they are in demand). Also, we do not know how many of the developer types have left Palm either -- those will not hit the "press release" level that happens when big wigs at the VP/Director level leave.
You're right. We don't know how much of their engineering/developer talent has left. I guess we'll know when fall comes. That's when all the big changes to webOS that they announced earlier are supposed to drop. If they deliver, then we know they retained a good portion of their talent. If they don't deliver, then we can make assumptions based upon that.
we also don't know how many talented people HP already had in that division that Palms going to "absorb" in this deal either. Not like HP knee how to use them. They have been too focused on Printers and PCs to really know how to utilize their talent pool in the mobile division. And rightfully so.
they are the biggest manufacturer of PCs and Printers afterall just didn't know squat about the mobile market. Now they have a division lead by Jon Rubenstein to lead that division. As they would say in the PC world Palm is a plug and play periphial.. Lol... They already know what they are doing when it comes to mobile so that's a stress off HPs shoulders.. They can now just worry about their bread and butter.. Computers and Printers... Smart move for HP.
Not quite... the development can very well be all done, just waiting to be released.
I doubt that.
actually R&D should indeed already be done. Usually when you are a smartphone company like Palm once you release your device you begin working on the new one within a couple months of release day.
Palm, Apple and RIM have always done that because they don license out their OS's and only release new devices once a year or once every other year..almost in perfect sync with people cell phone contract renewels.
so yes I do believe a new device has already been developed and all they were really working on were final tweaks with the OS and maybe a couple last second hardware tweaks.. There's been numerous word of mouth talk of this mysterious device and I don't think it's all urban legend considering different people, different sources yet extremely similar reports.
wish him well...but I can't help to notice to see a big problem palm had... They had way to many chiefs and not enough indians... This company is full with vp manager blabla here and there... And those are the ones mostly going know...
palm defently needs more doers then talkers..so lets see if my theorie is right...and it turns to a better
I find my self glancing over the fence more and more every day at Android. Web OS is still the best OS, but if the hardware, apps and additional features don't catch up quick....I may be history. I'm giving them a few more months. Sad that such a great product and OS can't catch on in the marketplace. If they were selling more phones, they could develop more for them.
HP resources are coming on line. They will have access to talent Palm never dreamed of. And note only one departure has headed to Google, so while they are good, the WebOS magicians are not migrating there.
The platform is "solid". Thats what it matters for now. Many folks left Apple in the last four years yet Apple continued to innovate. Once we see a tablet on WebOS, folks jump back to Palm.
seriously, who cares at this point about all the departures? I'd rather stick with actual hardware and OS news. All of this, 'Guess who's leaving now' talk gets annoying. I mean, I get that it's somewhat important that these people are leaving rapidly, but that the point of a freakin merger! People leave. You don't think HP has a zillion other pretty damn smart big wigs to fill the shoes of the ones who are moving on?
Perhaps it is because there IS NO HARDWARE AND OS NEWS!
I know the acquisition is not complete until Thursday, but I sure hope we see press releases on Friday as to what the direction (hardware and os) will be. So many people are saying "But you don't want to announce anything now and get lost in the ground clutter of iPhone 4 and the Android stuff", but I say, they need to announce stuff that will make iPhone 4 and Android people sit up and take notice. What is the advantage of waiting until Fall to announce anything, they will just be that much further behind. You will never find a time where there are no other announcements for yours to compete with, and if you are looking for that lull so that you don't have competition you might as well pack it up and go home since you obviously can't compete.
Just take a look on the Android side. Samsung just announced that their Epic will be on Sprint soon (no date given). This froze people who want a physical keyboard that were looking at the EVO. An announcement from Palm of new hardware on Sprint would freeze a lot of people who love the webOS, but don't necessarily like the Pre version of the hardware that are looking at the EVO and Epic.
omg obviously you pay attention to tech news to know about the Epic however did you also notice that you had to dig past the tons of iphone4 and Droid X news to even trip across the Samsung Epic news that's hidden in the middle?
the Samsung 4G Epic news is buried in a sea of iphone 4 news with Droid X right there.. Let the news die down another week or 2 then announce new Palm stuff.. Hell latest they should wait is end of July...
my best guess is they are going to announce new hardware need it be phone or tablet or hell both by mid july.. Cause if you also pay close attention to tech news they deal was supposed to be done last week of July and now they are rushing to get the deal done by the FIRST week of July... HP/Palm are up to something... And it just may be big.
It all depends upon where you look.
Sorry, but I hang out and Pre|Central and AndroidCentral, so yeah it the news of the Samsung Epic was front and center! Oh and BTW it was there on Google news too! Sorry, but the second 4G phone on the market makes a splash too, and if you think being the third won't make a splash too you are deceiving yourself.
Do you REALLY think anything anyone can come out with will compete for the sheep who follow the iPhone? If you are thinking you can wait a while, six months and news of a new Palm webOS device will make ANY kind of splash similar to the iPhone, you are mistaken. Waiting six months the story will be lost, and it will be "HPalm announces the 18th 4G phone to hit the market that is dominated by Android devices". Apple sold 1.7 million iPhone 4's, just exactly how long has it taken Palm to sell that many webOS devices, or have they even reached that level yet? Android is claiming 160,000 new units sold a day -- do you think a new Palm webOS device is going to approach that if it waits six months to do anything? I don't think so.
The problem is that Apple is a monster, and their brainwashed masses just line up at the trough waiting to be told what they want, when they want it, etc. Android is an OS that MANY manufacturers are grabbing onto and using on their devices. HPalm is the only manufacturer with webOS, therefore only their devices will use it. The only way that can be effective is to get a ton of devices out there that match different market needs. Some hate physical, some love it, etc. If they just come out with one device to succeed the Pre/Pixi, and wait six months from now to announce it, I will lay a 20 spot down on the table and predict that two years from now HP will be out of the smartphone business all together.
Look to Apple and Microsoft to see how their marketing departments do this -- they freeze the market by announcing something that their competitor is going to be coming out with. So, when the EVO was announced, Palm could have immediately (or even before hand, don't tell me they didn't know about the EVO before it was announced) announced their next device would be 4G. Think of how many Pre and webOS people who defected to the EVO would still be here waiting for Palm?
I know, I know, Palm was in a tough spot being up for sale and then in way having their hands tied by the acquisition. That is why I think they need to come out with a bang on Friday. It will make a lot of news on Thursday when the acquisition is complete, what a perfect time to also throw in product announcements. Imagine reading the headlines "HP acquisition of Palm complete, Announce 5 new devices". That would be awesome.
Mikey47 your funny.. :-)
actually I'm here on Precentral alot... I mean alot..lol also I look at engadget all the time, Cnet all the time, read the tech news at CNN, and listen to podcasts like Buzz out Loud (daily), Twit, engadget, other CNET podcasts, etc etc...
of course the Samsung Epic will be front and center in Google news.. Duh.. It's another android phone.. Lets see who owns Android OS??? Hmmm oh ya Google. So it would make sense that the Epic was front and center there..
everywhere else all they are talking about it iphone4 first day sales, antenna issues, yellow haze on the screen,,, and now Droid X's larger then life screen (which is bigger then the evo) how it's going to have froyo 2.2 with flash, got rid of that gold stamp looking thing etc etc... Funny that Samsung Epic hasn't made it front and center anywher else and is not even getting a mention from the mass media...well unless that mass media happens to own Android OS..
also I didn't say 6months before an announcement.. I said mid july.. That's like 3 weeks,, late july 4 1/2 weeks... And if Rubenstein pulls a page out of the Apple book on releasing a new device then it'll probally be released within 2weeks of the announcement.. Like Apple does with the iphone every year.
and as for Android on so many devices.. That helps and seriously hurts. So many companies use it because Google made Android FREE to use.. No crazy license fees.. Ya that helps get you devices out there.... However when you have s many companies taking advantage of this they are all using different processors, screen resolutions,,, etc etc.. Which means it's getting hard to be a developer making apps for Android.. Too many different variations.. What might work on one Android phone may not work on another and guess what.. Thst developer gets hate mail and bad reviews of his product and he loses money off his app.. Why? Because the general public doesn't know the effect of different processors and screens and stuff..
the other bad part of all these different Android phones is going to effect people buying devices.. With a new Android phone rolling out every couple weeks people are starting to find themselves afraid to buy a new Android OS phone because what's hot now another company will probally top It a couple weeks later on Android OS...
and last thing I can see happening to Android is it's going to fade out. I don't want to see that cause I want to see 3 top OS's.. ios, WebOS, and Android.. Each OS is geared for a different demographic and different usuage. However I've been around advertising for a very long time and you have to study trends and demographics to keep ahead.... If Google wants to keep ahead with Android they need to put their foot down on the release of all te Android devices before it's too late.... Us as a society once there is a saturation of a product we tend to start straying away from that product because we get bored easily.. Not quite a fad but close... We just get bored and sick of hearing about the same product over and over and over and over again...
when I watch tv for example.. Which is not often.. But during a half hour long show I may see a few different Android commercials at least 6 times. Different devices or different carriers. People are going to eventually get so irritated seeing this crammed down their throats and start looking for alternatives to the Android OS.. Just as us WebOS users and alot of Android users are looking for alternatives to the iphone cause we are soooo tired of the hype..
I'm just saying ya the epic is front and center in your tech news world cause 2 of your sources listed are Android based news companies.. One being about Android the other Owns the Android OS... But the rest of the world listens to the mass media.. And right now it's soo much about iphone4 that even the tech podcasts are getting sick and tired of talking about it but have no choice really cause normal mass media is still talking about it as tech news..
your reading niche tech news.. The Samsung Epic hasn't even been slightly mentioned in the open yet outside of tech news that benefits from Android OS news.... So HP/Palm will have to wait til mid July to late July to announce anything to let the iphone craze cool off a little.. It kinda exploded like a nuclear bomb... You know it's bad when the second 4G device to be released on Sprint news is almost being pushed to the side.
Ya, DOH! on the Android on Google ;-). Wasn't too much thought put into that one, huh?
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to attribute to you a lot of other crazy things that I have seen said here (like the HPalm needs to wait 6 months before announcing stuff).
I guess what upsets me at this point in time is that there seems to be a "disconnect" between Palm and Sprint. I am very concerned that there will be no more webOS devices there. My wife is due for an upgrade and I will be due in September. I could easily hop to the EVO because I will be up for an upgrade again in a year, my wife would be stuck with it for two years. I just want something announced. I think they have to announce something on Sprint first -- not out of anything owed, etc., but the Pre is still new to AT&T and relatively new to VZW -- their biggest sales target would seem to be Sprint. Therefore, if they do announce new devices and Sprint is not in the mix, I think that is the signal of death right there...
well I have heard from a couple sources at Sprint all the way back in January one of the first devices will be a Palm 4G device. And over the last 6 months other people from other parts of the country have had heard that from other sources at Sprint.
Palm learned a lesson when they released the Pre.. They announced it waaaaay too early. 6 months before a release date is too much time for competitors to hurry up on their projects to try and stuff you on your release date. Especially seeing you know Apple was a little bitter that Rubenstein leaves Apple as Steve Jobs right hand man and goes to Palm which at the time Android was nothing but a T-Mobile G1 which was no threat to Apple.
HTC and Apple do it right by announcing their new gadgetry weeks or a month before release day... Honestly with how fast the market is exploding I think that's what Palm is up to.
lets look at a few things here.. HP is buying up companies with stuff that benefits WebOS (last minute software tweaks can be done.
The acquisition was supposed to be the end of July and now they are rushing to get it done by the first couple days of July.
Palms been unusually extremely hush hush.. Even with a buy out going on they are being more quiet then usuall for a company in their situation. Not even a peep from Jon R. And he was making some kind of comments once every couple weeks.. Now I hear crickets..
Lastly if Palm wanted to release the Pre Plus on Sprint they could of by now Verizon has enough laying around it just takes a radio tweak to go from verizon CDMA to Sprint CDMA.. Yet Palm hasn't done it... Just kidding but it kinda makes sense. Lastly there's this mysterious C40 in Sprints lists.. Ok we all know Palm uses the codename Castle.. Hence the "C". But usually it's also usually with a bunch of numbers and letters... Yet not this device..
Palm has released so many CDMA/3G devices yes those numbers will be big.. However releaseing a 4G phone would start them from square one on 4G product numbers and what you have is C40.. It wouldn't surprise me if that was really C4.0 ,, after all it would be a Palm first gen 4G device..
we will see in July what Palm and HP have been up to that they didn't want anyone to know... Let Android and Apple duke it out a little bit then outta nowhere Palm/HP lands a sucker punch and neither one of them would know what to do at first because they have been too busy fighting eachother they forgot to look to see what the third major mobile OS was up to....
that right there is smart business. Gorilla war fare if you will.. Corporate gorilla warfare..
something big is going down.. Soon..... And yes within a month or less.. Need it be a tablet or smartphone.. I just cross my fingers it's a phone first as I am also with Sprint and was due for an upgrade as of April.. I'm on the once a year premier program and my upgrade is every april.. I upgraded last June for the Pre.. And I told the Sprint reps I have a good feeling so I will hold out until october the latest to hear about a new Palm device...
my Palm Pre is still working just fine.. Personalized to me and overclocked at 800mhz... So I can hold out a little longer.... I'm in no rush.. With Google tracking everything you do and now Apple jumping in I think I will enjoy my semi privacy and wait for HP/Palm to drop their bomb.
TheStreet.com - http://business-news.thestreet.com/technology-news/2010/06/28/a/65255509...
Forbes.com - http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/28/todays-big-gainers-s-erii-orex-plm-mark...
NewsFactor.com - http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=74079
WSJ.com - http://onespot.wsj.com/technology/2010/06/28/a/652555093-samsung-s-epic-...
Finance.Comcast.net - http://finance.comcast.net/stocks/news_body.html?ID_NOTATION=283808&ID_N...
Nicely put.
if Rubenstein leaves then there is a big cause for alarm. Palm division is going to "absorb" the HP mobile division right?
what's say that Jon sees some hidden untapped talent in that other team of people that HP never really knew how to use. Or it's people in that HP division he wanted in the first place but couldn't get need it be they were on contract with HP or Palm couldn't pay what HP was paying these people Jon wanted?
Palm side of things here they are being very hush hush about everything. When they start talking again I suspect some big news of the good kind and make everyone go "oh well now the silence and people leaving all makes sense now" it's how business is run in a situation like this.
I suspect some folks are leaving because their position will be weakened or duplicated by people already in place at HP. They haven't been doing anything recently but there are probably some people in the iPaq division that will be absorbed into Palm.
at dan plc..
well said I feel the same...
can you tell me where I can get the email from the development relations team?
can you send it to me per email
would be great
smove187 at gmail.com
thx in advance
I believe very much the same palms water head is shrinking..yuhu that means good times are coming..
If you're a developer and participate in the Palm Dev forums, you should know the email address. It's posted on there and present in the Palm reps' signatures.
besides the reasons why palm has been disappointing well those are most of the people leaving palm :)
Uhm don't take this the wrong way, but IMHO (!!) the guy didn't really rock the house. Multimedia on webOS is a cheap piece of crap, starting with music. Decoding in software is a very, very bad idea (I'll just assume that's the case since I get battery drain like 10% per hour (compared to iPhone's 1%).
Having your phone behave like a thumbdrive isn't the most brilliant thing I've ever heard of, too (the phone-part is offline, which in general is not what a phone-maker should aim for). Power management is way better with govah.
Well, let's see..
sorry dan can't find it I'm not a devolper but a idea man :)
I searched that email many times and couldn't find it...would have been nice
I'm not going to post their email address here since its purpose is to provide support for developers. But it's very easy to find if you look.
this isnt good
HP is interviewing each employee from PALM to make a decision of stay or go based on value to the new HPalm. Attitude and prior work/success with ability/desire to succed under HPalm is what determines keepers vs leavers.
HPalm has the $$resource to keep key Palm employess & with Stock Options can make it very attractive to stay: so why would anyone want to leave for greener pastures?
HP is interviewing each employee from PALM to make a decision of stay or go based on value to the new HPalm. Attitude and prior work/success with ability/desire to succed under HPalm is what determines keepers vs leavers.
HPalm has the $$resource to keep key Palm employess & with Stock Options can make it very attractive to stay: so why would anyone want to leave for greener pastures?
HP is interviewing each employee from PALM to make a decision of stay or go based on value to the new HPalm. Attitude and prior work/success with ability/desire to succed under HPalm is what determines keepers vs leavers.
HPalm has the $$resource to keep key Palm employess & with Stock Options can make it very attractive to stay: so why would anyone want to leave for greener pastures?
Fresh blood is always good when you are trying to reboot a company/brand/product.
This must be a re-reboot of Palm then. If the first reboot doesn't work you can always try to reboot again.
this isn't windows xp home edition where you need to keep rebooting.. Lol sorry had to make that joke...
whoever said all these VPs don't want manager on their business cards are probally partially correct. I still believe there is some hidden talent at HP mobile that hasn't been tapped into due to their focus wasn't on mobile all seriously. And when it was it was too late to start or "reboot" their mobile division....sooo buy one that's already established and combine talent and knowlage and pantents.. Sounds like a win win situation for everyone.. If HP was gonna run Palm into the ground they would of "absorbed" Palm into their mobile division not the other way around.... HP I hink sees the same possibilities in Palm that all of us on this forum see (trolls excluded).
I asked if you could send it oer email I don't have a pc so I've looked with my palm since almost a month now and since I had a accident and am in a hospital I can't get to a pc,
so pls can someone send me the developer teams email per email my email is
smove187 at gmail.com
thx in advance to the friendly person
Perhaps you're misunderstanding what this email address is for. It's not the developer team's email address. It's the email address for the developer relations group. They are the liaisons between the Palm engineers/developers and the app developers.
If you have ideas specific to developing on webOS (SDK or PDK), then go to the Palm dev forums (https://developer.palm.com/distribution/index.php) and post your idea in the appropriate sub-forum there. You can also easily find the email address on there if you prefer to communicate privately with them.
However if you have ideas about how to improve webOS (from a user's perspective vs. a developer's perspective), then the developer forum is probably not the best place to post it since its purpose is to discuss webOS development/programming.
Another one bites the dust! Everyone's abandoning ship most of the Pre's fathers are on the lifeboat as the SS Palm sits dead in the water.
This is not abnormal at all when companies get bought out and/or merge. It is a time of uncertainty. When you merge the Palm folks and the guys from HP there will be too many VPs. It is natural for those people to look elsewhere to ensure that they have a job instead of waiting to see who gets axed in the merger fallout. I once worked for a company that got bought out three times and each time people jumped right and left. Jon is clearly a smart guy and HP didn't get to be the behemoth that it is by accident. Everyone take a deep breath.
IMO, these people have already done their job. The webOS interface is already created. i.e. notifications, UI design, etc.
What purpose do these people that have left serve really?
webOS can only grow and mature now and it obviously has a very strong foundation already built (and in progress). Merging these employess with HP's employess to me is just butting heads with existing talent at HP.
I would be more concerned if the actual hard coders, hands on developers started jumping ship.
I see it as a good thing. Let them move on and improve upon another companies tech so they can play catch up. In the meantime the next version of webOS is cooking in the pot and ready to kick some major butt when it rolls out.
just my 2 cents.
Bottom line, everyone - This is par for the course for any corporate merger/takeover. I'm not even in the tech field, I'm a OTR Truck driver & we were bought out by a bigger company 2.5 years ago. All kinds of people left, moved on or were just plain replaced. Company is still going strong or better. Not saying that there weren't any transitional challenges - there were a lot. All kind of rumours and pandemonium was stirred up that ended up not being true. I spoke to someone else who is in another unrelated field & his company was bought out 3x in the last 8 years. Same thing there. Being negative & impatient is like falling off a log - it's easy. What hard & takes a up a lot of energy is having the patience & mindset to stay upbeat & focused. Until more info comes up, everyone needs to chill. Just my 2
see someone gets it.. Guess it's only us people that have seen buyout/mergers happen first hand that know what's really going on. What is going on is definitely normal for the situation.
relax..the era of palm being a small company is over...like new actress and musicians, new talent must be brought in to breathe new life to a product. if you stay the same it can grow stagnant and not as interesting. i am over all the leaving... it happens, it a part of life.
it is not the end it is the beginning of something new
Hey, Jeff Finkelstein, how about a UStream app for webOS?!!!
I'm surprised the marketing department hasn't been given their pink slips yet. For years to come in text books around the world, students will learn about what NOT to do to market your product.
I'm surprised the marketing department hasn't been given their pink slips yet. For years to come in text books around the world, students will learn about what NOT to do to market your product, thanks to the piss poor job done by Palm.
Yes, several fundamental marketing and management errors. This will likely be in several types of text books.
As others has mentioned here. The leaving of people during a merger is routine. What will determine though what all this means is after the merger. If HPalm comes out and announces better new devices relatively quickly. Then all these defections are more or less meaningless. If on the other hand, after the merger it is still weeks or months before any new news comes out. Then it's stick a fork in them time. And all those people leaving got out while the getting was good.
I for one am hoping for the former not the latter. :-)