I'm sure the people who actually work on webOS do and have looked at the iPhone. It's nice to have a CEO like Jobs with clear vision for a product but I don't think that's the case for the Pre.
Which is surprising given the fact that Rubinstein is not the MBA, parachuted in from some other corporation, type of CEO. He is a technical person, probably more of a technical manager than, say, a hands-on circuit designer, but nonetheless he is a technical person. He was one at Apple, and he started as the topmost one on the WebOS/Pre project at Palm. If I were to expect a CEO to be closely managing the development of their company's product, that certainly would be Jon Rubinstein.
Well, the thing is Rubinstein is considered the father of the iPod. Effectively this should make him one of the people you'd go to for a revolutionary product, particularly one that would compete with the iPhone. Him saying he never used an iPhone at all just shows he's either lying (which may be the case), or that he's naive in thinking he can create a breakthrough product set to dethrone the iPhone without at least taking a peak at what Apple has done in order to do better himself.
Wasn't it Rubenstein that lost the battle within Apple to build the iPhone with the iPod team on an embedded Linux platform?
If so then I can imagine he hasn't touched the iPhone. He's not some johnny-come-lately that's wowed by the very idea of the iPhone but someone who has fought for a different vision even before the iPhone existed.
I can imagine many such creators Intentionally don't bother themselves with what their competitors are doing.
pretty much everyone at Palm has actually used one, not to mention the fact that lots of Palm’s engineers were copped from Apple… they most certainly know what an iPhone is.
and
I think Rubinstein is distancing himself from the iPhone given the (very real) possibility of them being sued by Apple. I would say he’s being cautious.
He isn't saying that no one at Palm has ever used an iPhone. So I am not sure him using one matters. If Jobs doesn't use a blackberry or a PC or Balmer doesn't use an MAC or Larry doesn't use Sybase, it doesn't mean their companies don't learn from the competitors.
You're right in noting that Rubinstein did not say that no one at Palm has ever used an iPhone before. I can virtually guarantee you that any of the CEOs you mentioned that are worth their weight in salt has at least tried the products you mentioned. That is what the author is getting at. He's concerned that Rubinstein has not used an iPhone at all.
As an aside, "a Mac" is a computer, "a MAC" is a network identifier.
Seconded. Imho the person at the top has to really understand their product, and understanding the capabilities and shortcomings your product includes understanding the competitive landscape. Even if he doesn't compare his phone to iPhone, his target market does.
The company is doomed if the guy doesn't understand their product - and the competitive landscape.
I think he's lying through his teeth (and a bad liar at it), or he is genuinely blind. I think it's the former.
It was a lie, a lie that came off the top of his head, to do the standard thing of belittling/dismissing the competition. If anyone really believes he's never touched an iPhone, I have floating mountains in Pandora I'll let you mine for unobtanium. (Just cause I've run out of bridges to sell.)
Yes, we all want Palm's webOS to work. Google's Android system is great for carriers - but it's already become painful for developers who can't just write once any more. webOS is the only other mobile platform that provides the certainty of user experience that iPhone OS does.
We all want Palm to make a goddamn touchscreen device that just works. An iPod Touch type device would be great, as Dan Frommer pointed out. It's not hard for Palm to do what they need to do; their first pass at the OS actually was up to par. They just need to fucking execute on making some goddamn devices.
