“You can’t blame a guy for trying. Wait, I take that back. If the guy in question already broke his front teeth on a tough piece of meat and he goes for it again without wearing a mouth guard, I think you can blame him,” Michael Hickins writes for BNET.
“That someone in this case is Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, who seems bent on besting his former boss, Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a battle he’s simply not equipped to win,” Hickins writes.
“The eyes of the blogosphere were on Apple yesterday, and only a fool would have tried to upstage Steve Jobs (the prodigal who has now managed not one, but two triumphal returns to the helm of the company he helped create). There’s a reason that Democrats and Republicans don’t hold their national conventions at the same time. But there was Jon Rubinstein launching a new device yesterday, trying with all his might to shout, ‘Yes we can!’ while all around him people shouted ‘What did Steve Jobs say…?'”
“What’s going on has less to do with marketing strategy than machismo. Rubinstein was the unknown engineer who helped Jobs rescue Apple, and now he wants the recognition he didn’t get while working under Jobs’s shadow,” Hickins writes. “Well guess what, Jon? You’re still under his shadow.”
Full article – very highly recommended – here.
[UPDATE 9/11, 9:30am EDT: Fixed article link and formatting issue in related articles. This article originally published on September 10, 2009, 11:09pm EDT.]
“The moral of the story is, never try.” – Homer J. Simpson
LoL, good read. Almost makes you feel sorry for him.
What’s with all the getting it lately? Sheesh. It’s like reality or something.
There’s also a reason they don’t hold their conventions when Steve Jobs speaks!
Rubinstein and Palm’s struggle will be about much more than technology or products. And he just doesn’t have the juice to compete against Jobs.
The Pre’s actually not bad. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone wins in so many ways, but I think the Pre ranks in the top 3 mobile devices right now — blows away WinMo, even Storm.
The Pre will probably be remembered the same way Amiga or BeOS are… a group of admirers talking it up years later. Kind of sounds like the Newton for that matter.
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The reason is as simple as what Steve Jobs said at the end of his keynote introducing Tiger (paraphrasing here – I’m sure someone else at least remembers this):
“Because it’s more than the software; it’s more than the hardware; it’s the operating system that is the heart of the Mac and OS X is going to carry us for the next 20 years.”
This is kinda a dickish article.
-1 internet points for MDN for their “highly recommended.”
Palm introduced something Wednesday? Seriously? What was it?
Yeah, I didn’t know Palm released a new device until I read this MDN article summary. Palm is truly run by silly people.
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This device is “coming soon to Sprint” so it’s not even available right now. There is no reason Rubinstein could not have waited until a date where he would have the media’s attention. Plus announcing early with an unknown actual available date just killed a bunch of Pre sales (from whatever it had left). This is no iPhone killer, but if I had to choose something offered by Sprint, I’d choose this new device over a Pre. They did the same thing with the Pre, and killed sales of existing Palm devices for more than six months. What’s wrong with these people?
I’m with you Amazin1, what did Palm introduce?
I agree “ken1w”
Kind of reminds me of the dark days at Apple (before Jobs came back) when I would cringe at the decisions Apple management was making.
Jon was reassigned from the Mac hardware team for a reason and put on the iPod team. Then shortly thereafter he retired from Apple.
There should be no surprises here.
OMG… I cracked up before reading the first word on this. LOL… great pic MDN.
@ The Other Steve
Actually, Apple regularly makes unexpected decisions that go against common expectation and seem illogical at first. But most of those counter-intuitive decisions end up being absolutely correct. Sometimes, I even think Apple deliberately makes decisions that look bad, but it’s all part of “the plan” and ends up being advantageous down the line.
For example, the initial “early adopter” price for the first iPhone was too high, and the “too-soon” price cut was too much. Apple’s most loyal fans were mad; the less fanatical “second round” buyers were happy (and smug). So Apple publicly “admits fault,” gives the early adopters Apple Store credit for the difference is price tag. The result: (1) The Apple-loving early adopters became even more loyal to Apple. (2) The store credit increase sales at the Apple Store, above and beyond the amount of the credit. (3) Apple got to earn interest on the extra cash for a few months. (4) Many customers did not bother claiming the credit. (5) Apple got even more free publicity for the iPhone from the media. (6) Spurred sales of iPhone because it was now considered a “bargain.” And (7) Apple ended up looking like the “good guys” who listen to their customers, not the evil corporation gouging their customers. Masterful…
Unlike Palm, I know for certain that the people running Apple are smarter (and better “chess players”) than I am.
The greatest trait of Steve Jobs is that he knows how to pick the most talented individuals and create an atmosphere where excellence is expected. If you are surrounded my people that excel, you will push your self to work at there level. This is what Apple is.
This is B.S. MDN Anti-Palm Propaganda.
Why is everyone on this site is so eager to see another AMERICAN company fail? What is with the MDN’s constant use of “Beleaguered” in the title when describing Apple’s competitors? Doesn’t MDN and everyone else realize a successful, competitive Palm means a MORE successful and competitive Apple? As well as more great jobs and innovation coming from a more Successful U.S.?
Rubinstein has lost any respect (let alone self respect) he might have garnished in the past from any Apple users, by being a backstabbing asshole who just doesn’t know his real worth (0).
Thinking you can best the person you owe your lessons to is typical of “me too” freeloaders who let their self important delusions go to their heads.
No sympathy here asshole- eat shit and die.
I liked how neither this article nor MDN’s take compared the merits of the phones.
This story is simply about marketing.
Jon Rubinstein seems to have made yet another huge marketing blunder with a phone that even many iPhone fans agree could carve out a profitable little niche as an iPhone alternative.
…. or, is Rubinstein still working for Apple? ….
Launch the Pre in June when Apple launches the GS.
Launch the Pixi on the same day Apple has its usual September iPod refresh.
Dumb.
@NICK
There are many here who look at the Pre as an almost competitor to the iPhone, we just don’t like the guy in charge or his tactics. If he played nice we’d all be cheering for him. I’d rather he just get kicked out of Palm and they pick up someone else who will make intelligent decisions and make Palm a company to cheer for.
Palm released a new product? LOL During an Apple special event? LOL again……. Their top execs may want to take a few marketing classes.
@ MrScrith
No, I’ve read MDN for years, and their is one common thread in the posts. If your company is not competing with Apple, then you are great and really cool and smart. (ex. Google.) The moment you try to compete, you are ‘Beleaguered’ and an idiot and/or evil. (ex. Google.) While I know this is MACdailynews, and I am getting decidedly biased news going to this site, I still enjoy most of the posts and insight. But, trying to paint this BUSINESS conflict as some kind of Personal conflict is just being a dick.
Palm has a good phone and a good platform, as does Google and RIMM. As does Apple. The consumers are the real winners in this fight.
Did Palm launch something yesterday… that’s news to me!
But then again who gives a damn?
Few if any… and that doesn’t make for a great market to focus on!
The reason that MDN has so much schadenfreude at Palm’s demise is that Palm acted incredibly high and mighty when the iPhone came out.
Palm is the company who said, “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,’ he said. ‘PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”
Then they turned around and tried to mooch off iTunes syncing/organizing abilities because they can’t come up with their own software.
This from a company which wasted millions of dollars on BeOS and Folio. (Yea, I don’t really remember them either.)
To Nick and everyone else,
No one is trying to stifle competition. But the sad truth is that there are not many companies like Apple which are actually innovating and inventing. They are derivitive products which aim to compete with apple, but only after Apple has proven that there is a better way to build a phone, or an MP3 player or an OS. It would be great I’d we had more great American companies the likes of Apple but the burden of proof is on competitors not Apple to prove they deserve market share. If campanies are called beleagured, it is only to prove a point, if your going to compete with the likes of Apple you better bring your game.