HP CEO Léo Apotheker didn’t inform key executives of the decision to kill off webOS until the evening of Sunday, August 14, AllThingsD reported on Friday. One such exec included Todd Bradley, the head of HP’s Personal Systems Group, as well as former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein. Sources said the two will stay onboard at HP for the near term,though it depends on what HP decides to do with the webOS platform.
If it gets spun off as an independent company, it’s likely Bradley may become the CEO of said company. It’s also possible Bradley has offers from other tech companies to consider. Jon Rubinstein, a major proponent of webOS, has recently been moved higher in the HP hierarchy but his role isn’t very well defined. Depending on what becomes of webOS, he could play a key role in its revival as well.
Rubinstein reportedly didn’t want the HP TouchPad tablet to launch when it did as he didn’t think it was ready, which was proven by harsh reviews. An OTA update fixed some of the issues but came relatively late, about a month after the device’s launch.
[electronista]
