Palm CEO Denies Ever Using an iPhone; Hilarity Ensues

Image via Dim Bulb http://j.mp/88MDz6

I don’t even know where to begin on this one. Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple hardware SVP who oversaw the creation of the iMac and generations worth of iPods (and, it goes without saying, dozens of early prototypes of the iPhone, given that he left Apple only a year before its release), claimed during an interview at CES that he has “never even used an iPhone.”

Now, whether or not this was a true statement (interviewer Kara Swisher didn’t believe him, and I’m mostly in her camp), it’s certainly not a terribly smart one. If he’s telling the truth, it means he’s never used the top-selling phone in the U.S. market, a device that has turned the global mobile market on its head and dramatically threatened traditional powers like Motorola and Nokia and, well, Palm. It’s kind of hard to beat what you’ve never tried.

If Rubinstein is lying, it’s almost worse, a passive-aggressive attempt at point-scoring that belies a grudge with his former employer that could get in the way of beating them. All in all, it’s just one of those moments that really makes you appreciate how effortlessly Steve Jobs belittles competitor products — he can actually make you believe he would never use anything but Apple because they’re that much better. When Rubinstein tries to be as dismissive in the other direction, he just sounds bitter.

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Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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Posted in Apple, iPhone, News |

IcyFog
I would say if he’s not lying, then his actions speak to his passive-aggressive behavior because then he’s talking about the competion, when he should be focusing on his own company’s phones.
Mattzook
Gotta love the Apple-haters. They look more moronic in trying to deny Apple’s historic success.
How can Palm compete with Apple’s mobile products if the Palm leadership can’t even be bothered to take apart and peruse the iPhone in an attempt to make a better product?
In a way, I’m kinda glad that the Overhyped Apple-versus-Google battle is here. It means that all focus is on Apple or Google. And it means that third-rate Palm will be neglected and ignored, which means the faster they will die and be written off the marketplace. Palm already has 1 foot in the graveyard. Now I’m just waiting for the other foot to follow.
Mattzook
Once Palm collapses and goes out of business in 2011, I can predict where Rubenstein will be working next. His next boss will be Barack Obama and the Federal Government. His next assignment will be as the CEO of some failed, government-bailed American auto manufacturer. A hell job.
Joseph
Of course he’s lying. And on the 1/1000000 chance he’s telling the truth, he’s admitting his own incompetence because that’s what he would be if he wasn’t thoroughly familiar with the unquestionable leading product in his market.
Mattzook
Maybe he’s doing a Bill Clinton Lie: “He never officially used a release-model iPhone, but he actually got to play around with lots of prototype iPhones, which technically does not count because it is not an officially released product.”
Heh.
Rich
I guess he means that he’s never used one has his main phone – used, rather than touched or played with. Same as I’ve never used an iPhone – I’ve seen them, played with them, had a look at them, but haven’t lived with one and come to understand the little things that it does well and badly.
Charli
i have to agree with Mattzook and Rich. Rubenstein probably meant as in his main phone.
that said, he makes some very dismissive comments about how they don’t pay attention to Apple, that are not very smart. First the whole ‘we don’t pay attention’ bit. That reeks of a lie and an attempt to pass off copying claims. No company doesn’t pay attention to the competition. A better comment would be something like “We are aware of what is available in the market, but we do not allow it to determine how we move ahead with our own devices”
and the itunes comment was lame. Apple not allowing Palm to freely sync hurts Palm, not Apple. And your companies desire’s are to not join up with Apple on a solution. You state that AFTER stealing access to itunes and getting your hand slapped for it. Super dumb comment to make.
Cameron
The ridiculous thing with iTunes syncing is that there is an API available to third parties that will do just what Palm wants to do already. But I guess they were too stubborn to implement it.
Erin’s Dad
Let’s waterboard him until he coughs up the truth. I’d like to do so just to exact some revenge for my POS Treos…
http://www.definitivemind.com James Katt
Rubenstein is ridiculous.
If he has never tried to use the iPhone, then Palm is bound to go down in flames.
Palm is going to be a blip in the road. It will never know what hit it.
It was Palm that stated Apple was not going to succeed in creating a smartphone because it had no experience creating one – that Palm had all the experience.
Duh.
Rubeinstein’s remark is more of the same thinking.