Palm's Mike Abbott lands at Twitter 30
by Dieter Bohn Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:01 pm EDT
While we knew that Palm's soon-to-be-former SVP of Software and Services was leaving Palm (while other exec at the company got some juicy stock options), now we know where he's headed: Twitter. As TechCrunch reports, Abbott is taking over as the VP of Engineering at Twitter.
We wished you best of luck, Mike, and it looks like you found a growing place. Just make sure that as Twitter starts churning out their new purchase Tweetie for various mobile platforms webOS doesn't get left out in the cold, okay?
Of course, the big question for the webOS-world is who is going to take Abbott's place at Palm come April 24th? Just one more thing we hope to learn at the Palm Developer Day this coming weekend.
30 Comments
palm developer day!!
awww abbott will be missed. -sigh- that's twitter's greatest achievement, and i hope they know that
official Twitter for webOS coming soon ;) lmaoo
I like the inclusion of google buzz up there!
WE WILL SURVIVE"
Good for him. Now if he doesn't make an official Twitter app for webOS we're going to need to have a talk with him, believe you me.
Well at least he's not going to apple or google or rim... Must be nice to be in his position though.
Sigh....
that makes me feel better... That he left Palm for Twitter. I think there were more opportunities there.
"Abbott joined Palm about two years ago and received 400,000 options for Palm's stock. Those options were to vest in two years at a strike price of $5.79."
Obviously, Palm could have turned out a lot better for all of the executives if all the options were priced in this range.
Abbott looks like a job switcher kind of guy. He changed least five jobs that includes Microsoft, Palm and two start ups. The guy changed job every 2-3 years. In executive world thats too frequent.
From his linked in profile.
Michael Abbott
He's not some run-of-the-mill accountant or CSR. He has experience and achievements that appear to be in high demand. Tech moves fast, Mike moves faster.
For a "hot" company like Twitter to hire Abbott as the VP of Engineering shows you that Palm webOS is a huge deal. Shame that the public do not realize this
What an opportunistic loser!
A company needs people capable of making a difference in difficult time. This is dedication, this is character, this is not Abbott.
And by the way, is there anything more stupid than twitter?
I think Twitter is stupid as well. But there are a lot of stupid people out there. Pffttt.
It sounds like Abbott spent two years of his life trying to make webOS work and his stock options are underwater. It sounds like you, on the other hand, bought a webOS phone and signed a two year service contract. I wonder who has shown more dedication?
:) I guess we have more dedication than him. I am sticking with Palm and hoping a new phone from them.
He developed a top knotch OS/UI for a company in a death spiral and you expect him to stay until they splat?
You're pretty selfish with someone else's career. He did his job, others didn't. He earned a new opportunity. Were you mad at him when he left Microsoft too?
sigh....
Abbott left MSFT for PALM. I think he likes to take on a challenge and then move on. He is young enough to keep doing it. Avie Tevanian that joined EP from Apple in Junuary is rumored to be taking his place. Tevanian was head of Mac OS development. Another top Apple dog moving to PALM??? Would be nice. Hopefully we will hear plans for Abbotts position at Devloper conference this weekend. Abbott is a bigger fish at Twitter than he was at PALM.....can't blame him for moving to something. The spin was that he was running from PALM. Drama!
That my friend is a possibility. Avie will strengthen PALM.
Avie Tevanian
leave Abot alone charity begins at home pray for jon rub and co
lol, cause they need a miracle
it'll b nice if that phone he is holding was the c40 device..
my thoughts exactly +1
Why are we so hopeful that Palm makes a blockbuster device to keep us here when there are other great phones to get. Before you all shoot me down, let me tell you about my Palm pedigree. I have owned the Treo 600, 650, 700, and the 755p. I am currently on my 3rd Pre. I think it's time for Palm faithful to start going with their minds and not their hearts. I mean are you serious, the SVP of Palm goes to Twitter. Come on people "TWITTER?" Trust me Palm is a sinking ship and Abbot caught a liferaft. Are you guys keeping it real as to what Palm needs to do to stay competetive. First, they have to give people something hot and new, they have to make a phone with an Iphone form factor. Over 30 million people have bought Iphones, so that form factor musr be desirable. Next, Palm has to give us an HD screen, 1ghz processing, at least 512 ram, 16 gig storage, removable battery, expandable memory, at least 5 gig cam w/flash front and rear facing, WEBOS must "pop!" It must do multitasking with no flaws. I should never see "too many cards" because i will never have more than 15 apps running. And, I think WEBOS should be able to run that many apps without lag. My phone should need to go on the charger once a day "Period dot com!" Also, we need to be able to manage our preferences without having to hack (preware) our devices. We should NOT NEED to preset reset every day in order to make our phones work properly. And last but not least, the new Palm device needs to be 4g capable!
Now, I know many of you may look at this post and think you would buy a new Palm device if it didn't have everything I mentioned, but realize that with the new incarnation of the Iphone, it's buyers will probably get most of the aforementioned except 4g. If Palm can't make a device that truly rivals the Iphone and the Android phones then they die. Palm's marketing idea of getting the "fat middle" is a fail. It did not work. Why? Because, people who buy smart phones are intitmately connected to their phones. People who buy dumb phones do not want all that hassle. Have any of you ever walked into a Best Buy or Sprint store while an associate was trying to sell a smartphone to a bewildered cutomer. It's absolutely hilarious! They lose the customer as soon as they say "this is a smrtphone on a 3g network with WiFi capability! LOL! Just watch the glaze roll over the customer's eyes! The problem is, there is no "fat middle!" You have customers that know they want a smartphone and customers that know they DON'T want a smartphone! So, sorry Palm, you're not going to find a middle market that Apple hasn't already exploited! You are going to have to compete head to head! Bring back PIMS on WEBOS to differentiate and then blow us away with a new device. Is there anyone out there that thinks Palm REALLY has the capital to pull off this kind of device?
As great as Palm's multitasking idea was, it has been stolen and ready to use on more popular platforms. And to be honest, I can not say that I wouldn't buy an Iphone, especially if it's multitasking capability works as good as WEBOS, albeit differently.
That's my $.02! LOL!
Why are we so hopeful that Palm makes a blockbuster device to keep us here when there are other great phones to get. Before you all shoot me down, let me tell you about my Palm pedigree. I have owned the Treo 600, 650, 700, and the 755p. I am currently on my 3rd Pre. I think it's time for Palm faithful to start going with their minds and not their hearts. I mean are you serious, the SVP of Palm goes to Twitter. Come on people "TWITTER?" Trust me Palm is a sinking ship and Abbot caught a liferaft. Are you guys keeping it real as to what Palm needs to do to stay competetive. First, they have to give people something hot and new, they have to make a phone with an Iphone form factor. Over 30 million people have bought Iphones, so that form factor musr be desirable. Next, Palm has to give us an HD screen, 1ghz processing, at least 512 ram, 16 gig storage, removable battery, expandable memory, at least 5 gig cam w/flash front and rear facing, WEBOS must "pop!" It must do multitasking with no flaws. I should never see "too many cards" because i will never have more than 15 apps running. And, I think WEBOS should be able to run that many apps without lag. My phone should need to go on the charger once a day "Period dot com!" Also, we need to be able to manage our preferences without having to hack (preware) our devices. We should NOT NEED to preset reset every day in order to make our phones work properly. And last but not least, the new Palm device needs to be 4g capable!
Now, I know many of you may look at this post and think you would buy a new Palm device if it didn't have everything I mentioned, but realize that with the new incarnation of the Iphone, it's buyers will probably get most of the aforementioned except 4g. If Palm can't make a device that truly rivals the Iphone and the Android phones then they die. Palm's marketing idea of getting the "fat middle" is a fail. It did not work. Why? Because, people who buy smart phones are intitmately connected to their phones. People who buy dumb phones do not want all that hassle. Have any of you ever walked into a Best Buy or Sprint store while an associate was trying to sell a smartphone to a bewildered cutomer. It's absolutely hilarious! They lose the customer as soon as they say "this is a smrtphone on a 3g network with WiFi capability! LOL! Just watch the glaze roll over the customer's eyes! The problem is, there is no "fat middle!" You have customers that know they want a smartphone and customers that know they DON'T want a smartphone! So, sorry Palm, you're not going to find a middle market that Apple hasn't already exploited! You are going to have to compete head to head! Bring back PIMS on WEBOS to differentiate and then blow us away with a new device. Is there anyone out there that thinks Palm REALLY has the capital to pull off this kind of device?
As great as Palm's multitasking idea was, it has been stolen and ready to use on more popular platforms. And to be honest, I can not say that I wouldn't buy an Iphone, especially if it's multitasking capability works as good as WEBOS, albeit differently.
That's my $.02! LOL!
Why are we so hopeful that Palm makes a blockbuster device to keep us here when there are other great phones to get. Before you all shoot me down, let me tell you about my Palm pedigree. I have owned the Treo 600, 650, 700, and the 755p. I am currently on my 3rd Pre. I think it's time for Palm faithful to start going with their minds and not their hearts. I mean are you serious, the SVP of Palm goes to Twitter. Come on people "TWITTER?" Trust me Palm is a sinking ship and Abbot caught a liferaft. Are you guys keeping it real as to what Palm needs to do to stay competetive. First, they have to give people something hot and new, they have to make a phone with an Iphone form factor. Over 30 million people have bought Iphones, so that form factor musr be desirable. Next, Palm has to give us an HD screen, 1ghz processing, at least 512 ram, 16 gig storage, removable battery, expandable memory, at least 5 gig cam w/flash front and rear facing, WEBOS must "pop!" It must do multitasking with no flaws. I should never see "too many cards" because i will never have more than 15 apps running. And, I think WEBOS should be able to run that many apps without lag. My phone should need to go on the charger once a day "Period dot com!" Also, we need to be able to manage our preferences without having to hack (preware) our devices. We should NOT NEED to preset reset every day in order to make our phones work properly. And last but not least, the new Palm device needs to be 4g capable!
Now, I know many of you may look at this post and think you would buy a new Palm device if it didn't have everything I mentioned, but realize that with the new incarnation of the Iphone, it's buyers will probably get most of the aforementioned except 4g. If Palm can't make a device that truly rivals the Iphone and the Android phones then they die. Palm's marketing idea of getting the "fat middle" is a fail. It did not work. Why? Because, people who buy smart phones are intitmately connected to their phones. People who buy dumb phones do not want all that hassle. Have any of you ever walked into a Best Buy or Sprint store while an associate was trying to sell a smartphone to a bewildered cutomer. It's absolutely hilarious! They lose the customer as soon as they say "this is a smrtphone on a 3g network with WiFi capability! LOL! Just watch the glaze roll over the customer's eyes! The problem is, there is no "fat middle!" You have customers that know they want a smartphone and customers that know they DON'T want a smartphone! So, sorry Palm, you're not going to find a middle market that Apple hasn't already exploited! You are going to have to compete head to head! Bring back PIMS on WEBOS to differentiate and then blow us away with a new device. Is there anyone out there that thinks Palm REALLY has the capital to pull off this kind of device?
As great as Palm's multitasking idea was, it has been stolen and ready to use on more popular platforms. And to be honest, I can not say that I wouldn't buy an Iphone, especially if it's multitasking capability works as good as WEBOS, albeit differently.
That's my $.02! LOL!
wow, I triple posted ...oops! Sorry for the clutter!
Don't sweat it, most of us skip over any posts longer than one pre screen. Can you post a summary?