Ed Colligan had been the Palm CEO for 16 years but today annuonced his departure. He will take on a position with Elevation Partners, the company with a majority financial stake in Palm, but his new position may be more of a nudge out the door. Jon Rubinstein will be the new CEO effective June 12th and he was an instrumental part of bringing the Palm Pre and WebOS to life since his addition as an Executive Chairman in October 2007.

Colligan deserves respect for what he has accomplished. He is the one who initially helped bring Palm to the top of the tech world over a decade ago and if THAT had never happened, there would be no Pre and/or WebOS today. And although he oversaw a dark period at Palm, he also leaves Palm in good health as the company is turned over to Rubinstein’s control. The new CEO is no longer aquiring a sinking ship but a rising star. And trust me, Rubinstein knows a bit about rising stars.

In 1997, Jon Rubinstein joined Apple at a time the companies innovation seemed stagnant, not to mention they had just lost $816 Million dollars the previous year. He became the Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering and in addition to working on actual development, helped oversee Apple’s product strategy. It is no coincidence that during Rubinstein’s early reign, the G3/G4/G5 and iMac brought Apple back to profitability. Oh yeah… and then there is the iPod:

Steve Jobs charged Rubinstein with coming up with a portable music player on a rushed, 8-month timetable. It was Rubinstein who recognized the utility of the iPod’s key technology, the tiny, 1.8-inch hard disk drive on which music is stored; he came across it while on a routine visit to Toshiba. Engineers there had developed the drive, but were not sure how it could be used. It was Rubinstein who assembled and managed a team of hardware and software engineers to ready the product.

Rubinstein also had a key part in developing the line of iPod accessories that would bring in plenty of revenue themselves.

Jon Rubinstein just seems to “get it”. From a hardware perspective, from a software perspective and from a user perspective. And judging from the anticipation and buzz leading up to the Pre release, he also gets the culture perspective in the new age of technology. One might argue that Steve Jobs’ Superstar status at Apple has hurt the company – his health related absence from WWDC coincidentally occurred at the same time a lackluster WWDC event – something that hasn’t happened in years.

So with a great new phone, great new operating system and great new leader, why are some people saying that Palm has nowhere to go but down? Because they are idiots. Here is what PCWorld’s David Coursey says about the Palm Pre, WebOS and the company in general:

The problem with the Pre is not that it’s a bad product so much as it’s a bad idea. A business plan that begins with, “First, Apple or Research in Motion needs to screw-up royally,” can’t be a good one.

Yet, that is what has to happen for the Pre to gain serious traction.

This just makes you sound like Homer Simpson who once said:

“You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try.”

The company can’t control what Apple, Researech In Motion or any other company do or don’t do. But they themselves can work hard at creating the best Open Mobile Web Operating System available on the planet and then produce an exceptional portfolio of products using that operating system. According to your above quote, you would always tell the smaller company who is facing an industry behometh to tuck their tail between their legs and run away because they will never win.

First off, Palm doesn’t need to “defeat” Apple, “kill” the iPhone or any of that journalistic propaganda that are spoon fed to the public. They only need to create a unique device with a differentiating features and propositions that make people WANT it. And that is exactly what they’ve done.

Palm was nearly down and out. Now the company is on its way to achieving glory once again. With Jon Rubinstein as CEO, I would expect excellent hardware and software choices to be made that will help Palm grow tremendously in the next 2 years. I only hope Rubinstein doesn’t achieve the same superstar status as Steve Jobs’ because we’ve all seen what can happen when the success of a company is tied directly to one person.

Here is the Full Press Release announcing Rubinstein as the new CEO:

Jon Rubinstein Appointed CEO of Palm
Ed Colligan Steps Down After Sixteen Years of Palm Leadership

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jun 10, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced that its board of directors has appointed Jon Rubinstein to lead the company as Chairman and CEO upon the departure of Ed Colligan, who is stepping down after sixteen years of leadership at the company. Rubinstein, who joined Palm as Executive Chairman in October 2007 to help bring innovation back to the company, assumes his role as CEO on June 12. Colligan plans to take some time off, then join Elevation Partners.

“I am very excited about taking on this expanded role at Palm,” said Rubinstein. “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 ten-plus years of innovation ahead of us, and the Palm Pre is already one of the year’s hottest new products. Due in no small part to Ed’s courageous leadership, we’re in great shape to get Palm back to continuous growth, and we plan to keep the trajectory going upward.”

“I’m very proud of what Palm has accomplished so far,” said Colligan. “We pioneered two major product categories and I believe we are on our way to defining the standard for the mobile web. I’m extremely proud of our team, and grateful to have played a role in turning Palm around. I know that Jon, the Board and the Palm executive team will do an incredible job driving Palm to new heights.”

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company’s products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM), Pre(TM) and Centro(TM) phones, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.

Palm, Treo, Pre, Synergy and Centro are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.

I can’t wait to see what Rubinstein pulls out of his sleeve next. Oops, I’m already contributing to that superstar thing…