Jon Rubinstein Leaves HP and webOS Behind

Posted 01/27/2012 at 3:14pm | by Ryan Whitwam

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Former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein has officially left HP, effective today. Rubinstein became CEO of Palm in 2009 and led the company’s push with webOS, eventually selling the company to HP in 2010. When asked if he had any immediate plans, Rubinstein said he was going to take a well-deserved rest after working on webOS for the last few years. And what a last few years they have been.

Rubinstein’s first big hit came when he worked at Apple where he created the iPod. In 2009, he wowed CES with the Palm Pre. However, a series of bad business decisions left Palm in dire straights. HP bought the failing company when under the command of Mark Hurd. Rubinstein opted to stay on with a 12-24 month contract, which he has now completed. Hurd’s successor, Leo Apotheker tried to kill webOS entirely, but current CEO Meg Whitman has decided to open source the platform instead.

Near the end, Rubinstein was assigned to the Personal System Group at HP, and a new manager took over webOS. That made it pretty clear he was working on an exit strategy. Where do you think Jon Rubinstein will show up next?