Jon Rubinstein Ends Up On Qualcomm's Board Of Directors

Shining stars rarely fade away; they just appear in difference places. Such is life for on Jon Rubinstein, which floated from Palm to HP, and now, to Qualcomm. The man largely connected with defining webOS during Palm's comeback days feel out of the public's view lately, but now he's back in a big way. Qualcomm has announced the election of Jonathan Rubinstein to its Board of Directors.

We are extremely pleased to welcome Jon as a member of Qualcomm's Board of Directors," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of Qualcomm. "His experience in creating revolutionary consumer electronics and mobile products will provide added insight to Qualcomm's board as we continue to expand the scope and impact of wireless products and technology, improving and enhancing people's lives around the world."


Rubinstein's longstanding career has spanned a number of roles. In his most recent positions at HP, he led product innovation for HP's Personal Systems and, prior to that, presided over the launch of the HP's Touchpad tablet as senior vice president and general manager of Palm Global Business Unit. Previously, Rubinstein joined Palm Inc. as executive chairman in 2007, where he focused on product development, R&D and engineering to drive Palm's return to innovation with its webOS software and smartphone devices. He led Palm as chairman and chief executive officer from June 2009 until it was acquired by HP in 2010. Prior to his role at Palm, Rubinstein earned the nickname, "The Podfather," while running Apple's iPod division, where he was instrumental in creating the iPod and its robust ecosystem. He also served as senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, where he was responsible for overhauling the Apple's engineering teams, product roadmaps, manufacturing processes and leading the rapid rollout of the iMac. Rubinstein previously held a number of engineering and leadership positions at different computing companies, such as Stardent Computer and NeXT Computer Inc., and founded his own company, Firepower Systems Inc.

It's unclear whether or not this is a transition job into a role at Qualcomm, but it's obvious that his insight will be put to good use.
Tags:  Palm, Qualcomm, webOS