HP’s Palm Hires Nokia And Samsung Execs

As Hewlett-Packard prepares to launch the first new smartphones under the Palm brand since it purchased the WebOS-maker, it’s apparently also beefing up its Palm staff with key executives from some of its rivals.

Ari Jaaksi, who resigned earlier this month from Nokia citing “personal reasons”, is now the senior vice president of WebOS at HP’s Palm division, according to the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D site. At Nokia, Jaaksi was head the MeeGo division – the burgeoning operating system developed jointly by Nokia and Intel.

Staff shifts

Additionally, HP has reportedly scooped up Victoria Coleman, formerly the head of research and development at Samsung, to oversee the platform and application development of WebOS.

And finally, the Palm side of the business has laid claim to Steven McArthur, HP’s senior vice president of consumer applications, who is said to now head up product marketing for Palm. Joining him, reports All Things D, are Enrique Lores, senior vice president of worldwide sales for HP’s Personal Systems Group, who now is head of the Palm sales staff, and Steve Manser, senior vice president of product development, who will oversee product management.”

Previous to the HP purchase, Palm lost a key WebOS executive, Mike Abbott, its senior vice president of software and services. Abbott resigned in April as the then-struggling smartphone maker put out the word that it was interested in being purchased. Wanting to keep its staff of core employees intact, presumably to make the company more attractive to potential purchasers, Palm soon after implemented a retention program that offered “equity awards and cash bonuses” to employees who stayed with the company for two years. The cash bonus was set at $250,000 (£155,000).

HP announced its intentions to buy Palm in April for $1.2bn and the deal officially went through in July. Since then HP has made it clear that Palm’s WebOS was a major reason for the purchase and that it plans to release several devices running the open-source operating system.

“With WebOS, HP will deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products,” HP executive vice president Todd Bradley said in a 1 July statement. “This allows us the opportunity to fully engage in growing our smartphone family offering and the footprint of WebOS.”

Michelle Maisto

Michelle Maisto covers mobile devices, Android and Apple for eWEEK and is also a food writer.

Recent Posts

Amazon Pumps Another $2.75 Billion Into Anthropic

Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…

1 hour ago

The Sustainability of AI

While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…

4 hours ago

Trump’s Truth Social Makes Successful Market Debut

Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company rose about 16 percent after first day of…

4 hours ago

Dutch PM Raises Cyber Espionage Case With China’s Xi

Beijing visit sees Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte discuss cyber espionage incident with Chinese President…

5 hours ago

Vodafone Germany Confirms 2,000 Job Losses, Amid European Restructuring

More downsizing at Vodafone after German operation announces 2,000 jobs will be axed, as automation…

21 hours ago

AI Poses ‘Jobs Apocalypse’, Warns Report

IPPR report warns AI could remove almost 8 million jobs in the United Kingdom, with…

22 hours ago