Palm's VP of PR, Lynn Fox, Leaves Palm 68
TechCrunch is reporting that Lynn Fox, Vice President of Public Relations for Palm, left the company earlier this week. Fox's Facebook page pretty much confirms the same:
I respectfully declined the opportunity to join HP after its acquisition of Palm, so am looking for my next career adventure. I have some exciting potential opportunities in the works, but in the meantime, I will help you help yourselves, to the extent that you need or want such help....from me. Inquire within.
Fox is among several big names to have left Palm since the HP acquisition announcement, including SVP of Software and Services Mike Abbott, VP of Humant Interface and User Experience Matías Duarte, and Rich Dellinger, creator of webOS' notification system.
Fox came to Palm after a stint at Apple. She was a major asset to Palm and friendly to one and all - and while the former may no longer be true, we know that the latter is now and will be in the future. Best of luck @foxycar!
Source: TechCrunch
68 Comments
First, everyones abandoning ship and heading for the hills and better pasters, Now she can get that Evo she always wanted! It sucks to be Palm right now, wait Palm already sucks!
it's pastures....troll
no, I think he is talking a out a better PASTOR, because he is a deeply religious troll.
he would have said 'greener' if if he was talking about 'pasters'
LOL
HEATHAN! PRAISE THE LORD IN THESE DISPICABLE TIMES! HAIL MARY, HELP US IN THIS TIME OF NEED. THESE ABOMINABLE ALTERNATE OSes THAT STEAL THE SOULS OF PALM EMPLOYEES ARE SPAWNS OF SATAN! DOWN WITH THIS DISGUST!
Please make your religious donation check out to "Android Rocks C/O Get A Reality Check Palm Users" and deposit it at your nearest phone retailer, and CONVERT TO ANDROID! All Palm is dishing out is false promises. (prophets)
har har har
I wish WEBOS had spell check like Precentral does. "Auto correct" what a load of crap.. I really hope this will be changed or fixed.. as much as I wish I could spell ha :(
First off the expression refers to "better pastures"...what you spelled is not a word. Secondly, why are you camping on PreCentral to get the first post if you dislike Palm so much?
And her pasture lacks grazing grasses, so there is more to the story than we've heard. If you're going to troll, try not to look stupid doing it.
TROLL GO BACK TO YOUR BRIDGE YOU HIDE UNDER AND STEAL BABIES.
Are you sure she's really leaving? Some people just like to take a long vacation during Chinese July 4th.
Good riddance. Maybe her replacement can do webOS some justice. She obviously didn't do her job very well.
Goodbye. Had she done her job properly, Palm would not be the laughing stock of the mobile industry. Palm paid people like her a lot of money to perform their "magic." What has she done for Palm? Has she improved her former employer's image? Where was she when we had the creepy lady debacle? Where was she when there were rumors every minute that the company was about to fail? She came from Apple and that gave her instant street cred, but where was that street cred applied to Palm? I really fail to see how this is a bad thing for Palm.
Seems more like a case of a Techcrunch writer trying to provide a buddy a sound parachute after her failure at Palm.
I have no compassion for this ex-Palm employee. She was part of the problem with Palm.
She wasn't in charge of Marketing or Advertising, she was in charge of Public Relations.
I know she was not in charge marketing and advertising. I'm not an idiot. The reaction to the bad advertising and the sales failure needed a strong massaging from Palm. It's a PR person's job to contact the media when they write crap about your company and make them focus on other aspects of the company or point out flaws with competitors to deflect attention. There was no defection at Palm for the time she was there. There were no responses or ways to limit damages made elsewhere in the company. It was her job to fix those perception problems. On that count she failed.
It was fans like us and a ton more that kept preaching about Palm and webOS that got people to notice and respect the OS. It wasn't her. She did not reach out to Palm enthusiasts out there in the wild. I know many people that have blogged about Palm and preached and evangelized and she (or her team) didn't care. It wasn't up to us to find her Twitter account and connect. It was her job and the rest of her team to find those evangelists and connect with them so they could help her message get across about the value and good things at Palm.
And that's why I consider her tenure a failure. The job was easy at Apple because of built in love from the rabid fans. But a Palm where she had to built from scratch that following, she failed.
It's nothing personal, but Palm needed more than what she offered.
The TV ads sucked, it's not her job to apologize for that.
If you mailed a letter to her, it was her job to see that it got answered.
If the devices exploded in people's hands, it would be her job to address it.
Learn a little about PR please. The Mac product group has a PR problem that goes well beyond what the Pre has. Apple has really screwed the pooch when it come to their loyal Mac supporters.
The TV ads sucked, it's not her job to apologize for that.
It was her job to handle the public relations (i.e., PR) nightmare that the Palm ads became. Do you remember the reaction to the ads, and how Palm handled that reaction? It wasn't impressive.
Isn't it a PR person's job to say, "Hey, running those ads is hurting your brand and making you look like a bunch of morons."?
Not only that, but she failed when it came to the PR war between Palm and Apple over synching iTunes. She could've done a lot better job managing that.
>>Isn't it a PR person's job to say, "Hey, running those ads is hurting your brand and making you look like a bunch of morons."?
To be as objective as possible, we have no idea what she was allowed to do or say. Having said that, I agree with what you said. Whether because of her failure, or her bosses, Palm failed miserably this past year at controlling the FUD.
Ok, ok good. Now tell us how you really feel.
In short; anyone leaving Palm right now, probably did a really bad job or else HP would toss some dineros at them to make them stay.
If HP 'allows' them to leave, they're probably not worth it.
Obviously, HP disagrees with you because they offered her a job. HP did not reject her, she rejected HP.
I don't care about whom fired whom. She still did a poor job at Palm and the results are self evident. Apple no matter what crap they pull on their users and developers continue to be darlings of the media and people because their PR team is actively working behind the scenes to prop up their products and make people dream. Google does the same thing. They have an army of PR folks whose job is to make Google look good no matter what new privacy invasion stunt they pulled last week.
But at Palm, fans were the ones in the battlefields and the forums fighting the bad vibes from misinformed reporters who would spin the most dismissive stuff about webOS, the Pixi and the Palm Pre. It's people like me and others who were fighting the battles and telling people that the glass was not half empty. Where was she during all that time when all that negativity endured? What did she do to change how people perceived Palm and its products?
There are two types of PR. There's the clockworks stuff, pushing press releases, answering questions from the media, filing reports, supporting official product releases, organizing events to push products working along with the marketing team.
Then there is the real PR work - the grunt work, where the publicist changes how the media and the public view your company's products and its image. They are actively in the trenches fighting negative perceptions and spinning the gospel.
Ms. Fox did not practice that kind of PR which was extremely needed for a company like Palm that had an uphill battle to fight and was perceived as an underdog. That's the kind of PR start ups do. They have limited means but they have to push their messages to the masses and recruit adherents. Ms Fox did the 9 to 5 kinda PR where she was courteous the press and wrote nice press releases, but did not have any impact on or even try to fight how people perceived Palm. And Palm needed that kind of PR to succeed.
But she's not alone in this; the marketing department was as bad as the PR dept if you ask me. I won't go over the well-known faux-pas that team produced. There's enough for a text book.
But a good PR team headed by a real visionary can change how people perceive your company overnight with a limited budget. Before Ruby gets interviewed by that crazy lady he admitted never having used an iPhone to, she should have prepped him up. Told him how to look and feel inspired. He felt like an engineer in that interview that was sent to the sharks without any proper coaching from the VP of PR. I felt bad for his performance in that video. A strong PR lead would have drilled Ruby on how to address the media for one hour a day ten days before that interview and made sure he was prepared and stayed on topic. The opposite happened. Ruby doesn't have to be a natural evangelist, but with proper drilling (i.e. Toast masters-style) he could have been an inspired speaker. None of that work seems to have occurred behind the scenes. An interview from an inspired leader would have made people feel more comfy about Palm and would have increase sales and support from carriers.
Why didn't she spin the iTunes sync affair as an attack of Apple on open standards, like Adobe did recently (just before they turned around)? Why didn't she aggressively pursue that to shame Apple and make Palm look like a winner? Better yet, why didn't she use her authority as the head of PR to stop the iTunes sync crap before it got bloody?
That's what's expected from senior PR leads. She did not deliver that. She was not able to turn around the image of palm that was headed by a team who focused only on the product and thought that would save the company. She and the Marketing lead never wrestled control successfully enough from all the nerds and the geeks in the product camp to make them realize Palm could not play up its strengths on technical might alone. They had to convince the geeks that Palm had to make people dream. They failed with that too. I don't know how the fights (if there were any) occurred at Palm behind the closed doors, but I can tell that Ms. Fox and the Marketing guys were the junior players and did not get their point across, if they ever tried.
And that's why I am so critical of Ms. Fox, the rest of her PR team and the marketing and advertising team at Palm. They failed.
+1
She couldn't relate to being a janitor.
Who are these people like kinster02 and why do they keep coming back to this site to hate on Palm? Try this link, www.androidcentral.com Better yet, stop here first http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pastures
Now onto my comment, Marketing needed some improvment anyway. Remember the borg queen?
kinster is just an introverted young'un with the trolling range of a Daisy Red Ryder.
The 1st thing you do when you buy a company is trim the fat. If the company's not doing well, the people in the "positions" are the reasons. Also thinking of Palm's situation has the marketing department been weeded out?
I'm sure HP has plenty of senior PR people so they would not have valued those Palm positions very much. The key people in the acquisition are critical executives like Rubinstein and the software/hardware engineers. That's it. I have no idea whether Lynn Fox did a good job but Palm's advertising certainly needs fixing.
I agree entirely. It's like all these people never paid attention to a company when a merger or buyout has transpired.
wow, while I see all diehards are justifying every little event and the other side sees the end, I am seeing a company that sure isn't doing itself any favors right now. Here we all are waiting word on an update, a possible new phone or just the fact that we made a good choice and need to stay. Oddly I see nothing from Palm but all these guesses at PreCentral. Other sites pretty much claim it's over.
So what is it Palm? Every day we see another Droid device that has all these powerpack processors, or Apple with their fanboy release. Call me a hater or a troll, but this is getting old seeing people leave, and not a word "Officially" from Palm...
I've gone through multiple acquisitions, and this happens pretty much every time. VP level folks either find a niche or they bounce. It's a pond-fish issue.
The thing to watch for is if groups of engineers, developers, or product managers start to walk. That is a danger sign.
Yep, HP didn't step in because they thought Palm had great marketing or PR, they're here because Palm did create a successful backbone o/s that would have cost HP much more to develop from scratch.
anyone responsible for such poor visibility, recognition, and advertising... needs to go.
next?
What *I* really think is cool is how she misspelled "principal".
Must be her "principles". :-|
The peons do all of the menial "spell check" kind of work...
Any mobile, any time.
Wow you guys are tough, put yourselves in her shoes. Ahh forget it...thanks for putting your best foot forward. I'm certain others would agree and you were appreciated by many of us. Sorli...
You forget that the general reaction to people leaving Palm on this site is "good riddance, we didn't need them anyway."
...and if anyone says anything to the contrary, they are labeled trolls. Silly stuff.
The comments here are harsh. I felt she was very nice and loved what she did. She had the option of staying and she chose to leave. I will miss her. But with changes in a company, and I just went thru one, it was hard but its in her and the company's best interest. Goodbye and Good Luck
She will be missed. I personally wish her good luck in her future endeavors, and truly wish she was still going to be with us in our adventure into the realm of HPness.
I don't think it is a big deal that these people are leaving. Personally, if anyone should be forced to leave it should be every f-ing idiot in the marketing department.
As someone who works directly in the marketing field, I can assure you that Palm's marketing department could be one of the worst in the entire world!
Palm's horrific marketing campaign for the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi will be in textbooks for years, explaining to students what NOT to do concerning marketing your products.
Hopefully HP's marketing department will take charge on the next Palm devices.
thank ya jesus, i left after my 30 day trial with the palm pre plus, well it was actually 34 days but i complained to verizon that i didn't want to be stuck with crap for a year, so now i won't get mad and try to protect a company that's going down because i signed my life away for a phone that does nothing but make calls. if it looks like crap, feels like crap, smells like crap, then it must be palm.
Unlike the iPhone which when held can't actually make a call which is after all what a mobile phone should do, unless of course you follow Apple's instructions on how to hold a phone!
Maybe you just can't use the Pre, I have had mine since March and it does 99% of what I want, email, calls, internet, IM, video, photo's and it does it very well far better than any Windows or Nokia phone I have owned. I like the size and it's one of the easiest phones I have ever had to clean, one quick wipe and it looks like new.
never had an iphone, so i cant say, but i had the pre plus and exchanged it twice in a month. did i really want to pay an extra $30 a month for something that freezes and gives me memory errors on wifi? it was really easy to use and the touchstone amazed some people but that's about it. i hopped on the droid ship and its been smooth sailing since. and for the cleaning, my thumb covers the whole screen. you can't be serious.
THAT'S A BIG THUMB! :)
Hey does anyone know what the deal is with Radio Shack or any others that sold the Palm Pre in the past. Nobody has it except Sprint, ATT, Verizon. Its almost like Sprint has quit pushing to sell the phone, and seems to want to quit supporting it. I really like my phone, but if they give up support I might be forced to move over to a Android.
Puuuuush. Puuuuush them over to Android. "www.androidcentral.com" There you go.
Why is that all of these announcements of Palm people leaving read like obituaries?
...and the troll of the month award goes to...wow this is unprecendented...LILDABO wins again!
This makes 14 consecutive Troll Awards for Lildabo! Congratulations!
What are you going to do now Lildabo?
"Duh ahhh, um I duh go to Didneyland!"
thank you, thank you, first i like to thank god for creating the minds to envision a phone that's up to par with todays technologies, even though its just a vision, and mom for telling me to settle for nothing but the best because without her advice my hand would wreck of dog poo, and last but not least to all the little people that got stuck with junk, better you than me. DROID
Always love the lightweights that don't start posting here until "after" they decide they hate the Pre so much, they're willing to settle for a droid.
Such great insight after quitting the club makes me think you might want to get out of the house, go out, meet other people. Maybe some day, even kiss some one. If you dont have a lot of friends, the Pre and WebOS really wont do much for you. If you're looking for the ability to see movies on a "big screen" or stream porn via Flash, droid gets that call all the way.
thing is i didn't settle for the droid it was just a better choice. what's funny is how people hate and pray for a miracle to come like your lame ass. you got a better chance at seeing jesus resurrected. and why would having a phone have anything to do with my friends? oh you must be one of those people who can only communicate through electronics, sorry for you homebody. i like to go out and interact. yeah i never kissed someone because i'm busy with my palm phone and all my friends. that's so attractive with its little petite screen. good for a female but no cool points for looking like a herb. and me and my girl do look at porn on my phone, so? stop assuming things it makes you look stupid.
LOL, yet you spend a lot of time here, and people dont seem to appreciate you hear either. The social skills you've demonstrated are very telling.
>>and me and my girl do look at porn on my phone, so? stop assuming things it makes you look stupid.
thanks for hating, maybe if you work hard and go from flipping burgers to taking orders, then you can have a grown up phone. porn is evil, grow up. lol this is my first post and you and the rest of the palm cult that prays for a miracle, start crying from hearing the truth. bet your next upgrade won't be a palm.
I didn't say porn was evil. I flipped my burgers, I grew up, if I want to watch some bump and grind, I dont have to hide somewhere and watch it on a little tiny screen. Let me tell you, its a lot more fun to do it than to watch it. Watching is a substitute, or a warm-up if your technique is incomplete.
And I don't hate. You may feel hated, but that is the burden of the troll. Stop crying. You didn't find a place in the droid enthusiasts and you're just a little buzzy twit here.
all i see here is people with hope and excuses. you people do more work than the actual employees and staff, the little people trying to make logic of the inevitable. hold hands together, form a prayer group, and make a wish. thanks for the laughs, it was nice and too funny to hear your excuses. they can give these phones away and it still won't make a difference. wait they already do, oh well. i guess i can make a few of you miserable haters happy by saying good bye, don't go killing yourselves in a mass suicide because palm failed you true believers. lol
If it makes you feel important or smart. Troll away. No skin off my back. My phone is for me, not some self esteem peer play that brings you to an enthusiast site, despite being a little weasel with no interest in WebOS. Must be a pretty cool platform to warrant your continued visits.
lildabo>> don't go killing yourselves in a mass suicide because palm failed you true believers. lol
LIKE dROID or andROID OR
HEMroid.. All the same pain in the a$$... Go where you are wanted & that is not here... Most people pay to have ROIDs removed, why anyone would pay to get one?
Actually, there is a large population of people who pay for SteROIDS all day... I'm just sayin'
if you are no longer with palm and you dont have the phone anymore dont come on here. go to the android or iphone forums and say that crap we don't want it here. if you read back about how apple almost went under, and all the legal mess with google you'd shut up. you weren't happy with the phone, i wish you well. but we are proud palm fans, no matter what you say.
be happy with the phone that you have hold correctly or have to change every week. I am happy with mine which happens to be a Palm.
Wow, what a bunch of neophytes that post their random thoughts. None of you have any idea what her situation is, yet you post your absurd thoughts as if they were fact. All we know is she turned down their offer. Maybe she didn't want to move or she found the contract terms too restricting. Perhaps she found this a prime time to make a change in her career or personal life. Maybe she wants to start her own company and be her own boss. Maybe it has nothing to do with Palm, the job she performed there or the future path of the company.
And why do some of you take such joy in predicting the demise of a product line? Were you personally hurt by them or did you just not like the phone? If the latter, from most posts, you have moved to a new platform, yet you remain here, stuck in your past. What does this say about you?
Good Luck to Ms. Fox in her future endeavors!
VP of Public Relations? Well apparently the public didnt take to WebOS like she hoped. Honestly have to say, good riddance. For now Ill trust HP to make a good pick up for that position.
HP has a PR group. Any offer they'd make would likely be as an associate that links department heads with existing Palm resources and the HP PR resources. No VP, no corner office, I gather she said no thanks. Prolly even had to report to the current iPAQ middleman. HP making any offer, if it happened, was generous. Repetitive staff positions are a slam dunk for cuts. So PR, controllers, legal, HR....dont generally benefit from an acquiring company fishing a company out of the sewer, unless they really stand-out.
This is normal people, no need to worry. Like all other takeover or buyout, there's some people that leave and others that stay. With that being said, I love my Pre and stay behind them while the Palm's transition to HP is taking place. I can only see great opportunity for this HP+Palm association.
P.S. Excuse my english as it's not my primary language.
it's weird how people get so bent about how the current staff didn't do their job well enough, but they point it out after said staffer has announced they are leaving.
if it was like "VP of PR is staying on!" i could totally understand saying "this sucks, she didn't do..." and giving your reasons why she should leave.
but she's already said she is going. she is the VP, which means she has a team, coworkers, and most likely, friends at palm who enjoyed working with and for her, and will miss her when she leaves.
so what you're really doing is pouring salt in the wounds of the PR team that remains, and the friends who didn't want to see her go in the first place.
there's an old adage that most people count on your mom to tell you: if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.
she's opted not to continue with HP, for whatever reason, and if you absolutely abhorred her performance at palm -- it's not something you have to worry about anymore.
just something to think about.
You're absolutely correct. Unfortunately, many of the vocal members of this community tend to be angry and bitter when it comes to Palm's failings.
I think what most people agree with is that Palm's OS was awesome. Still is. It is the hardware's stagnant position that has most folks acting unforgiving. Even the TREO had several versions.... WebOS had the Pre and Pixi.... with no indications of something better. You want to change the game? Port WebOS onto the EVO and .....GAME OVER!!
My pre broke 3 times. And no I don't work construction, use it to level any tables or chairs, nor did I ever spank my kids with it. Surely we are not saying that the current Pre/Pre Plus is a better piece of hardware than what is available out there right now. Or are we saying stick with WebOS because it will definitely be on a better phone?