Palm chief executive steps down

Chief executive of mobile handset and PDA manufacturer Palm, Ed Colligan, has stepped down from his position to be replaced by former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein, effective from 12 June. Colligan has been at the top of Palm for 16 years, heading the company while it maintained dominance in the handheld PDA sector. Palm was overtaken by rivals including Samsung and Apple in the smart phone war, but is attempting to recapture market share with its Pre device.

Colligan’s position will be filled by Rubinstein, currently the company’s executive chairman, who previously worked at Apple where he worked on the original iPod device and the updated iMac lines.

“I am very excited about taking on this expanded role at Palm,” Rubinstein said in a statement. “Ed and I have worked very hard together the past two years, and I’m grateful to him for everything he’s done to help set the company up for success. With Palm webOS, we have 10-plus years of innovation ahead of us, and the Palm Pre is already one of the year’s hottest new products.”