iLounge

As part of a strategic relationship between the private equity firm Elevation Partners and Palm, former senior vice president of Apple’s iPod Division Jon Rubinstein, and Fred Anderson, former Apple CFO, will be joining Palm’s board of directors. Rubinstein will join as executive chairman of the board, while Anderson, along with Elevation partner Roger McNamee, will replace Eric Benhamou and D. Scott Mercer on the board. Palm CEO Ed Colligan said, “Jon Rubinstein is one of the top engineering executives in Silicon Valley, and he will lead our product-development efforts.”

Rubinstein added, “I have tremendous respect for Ed Colligan, Jeff Hawkins and their team, and I am thrilled by the prospect of helping Palm deliver innovative products capable of transforming the mobile-device market. Approximately 1 billion cell phones are sold each year, and mobile computing is a category with enormous potential. This is a company with an impressive history of introducing game-changing products – it pioneered the smartphone – and I intend to help extend that legacy.”