Report says that former Palm CEO and webOS mastermind Jon Rubinstein has left HP

Well, the day is finally here as a new report mentions that former Palm CEO and webOS mastermind Jon Rubinstein is out at HP. In some way, it’s a sad departure considering the roller coaster ride we’ve seen taken by the once fledgling mobile platform deemed to be an iPhone killer a few years ago.

All Things D is reporting the news about it and mentions that Rubinstein is leaving HP after completing a commitment to stay with the PC giant for 12 to 24 months. Moreover, it doesn’t seem as though Rubinstein has any sort of immediate plans, but surely, it’ll be a good time to reflect on things. Even though we’ll all wonder whether or not he left on his own terms, it’s simply an unfortunate ending when you look at the potential of webOS.

Initially, the Palm Pre garnered a lot of attention as the next big thing when it made its debut a few CES shows ago, but since then, we’ve seen a lot of change happening. Later on after HP’s eventual purchase of Palm, it seemed that new light was in store for the entire webOS ecosystem. However, as we all know, that didn’t quite turn out to be the case as the HP TouchPad failed to gain momentum in the tablet market – thus, bringing the platform to where it is now, being nothing more than an open-sourced platform.

Known for his work in creating the Apple iPod, and then the webOS powered Palm Pre, it’s quite obvious that it hasn’t been smooth sailing for Rubinstein. Simply, it goes to show how adverse and trying the industry can be.

source: All Things D via CNET