“Palm Inc., the maker of hand-held computers, has hired a top Silicon Valley software designer as it seeks to respond to the challenge posed by Apple’s new iPhone,” John Markoff reports for The New York Times.
“The designer, Paul Mercer, a former Apple computer engineer, began work three weeks ago at Palm on a line of new products, a company spokeswoman said, but she declined to comment further on the project,” Markoff reports.
Markoff reports, “Mr. Mercer, 39, joined Palm with two employees from Iventor, the independent design firm that he headed in Palo Alto, Calif., but Palm did not acquire the company, said the spokeswoman, Marlene Somsak. Palm is based in nearby Sunnyvale.”
Markoff reports, “Apple’s iPhone is still several months away from being available, but its flexible interface is already shaking up the cellphone industry, including Palm, which makes the hybrid phone-organizers known as smart phones.”
Markoff continues, “Mr. Mercer, a college dropout, joined Apple in 1987. While there, he was the lead designer of Version 7 of the Macintosh finder, the operating system’s graphical desktop. He later founded Pixo, a software tools firm that created a development system used by Apple software designers to conceive the first version of the user interface for the iPod music player.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill C.” for the heads up.]
First of all: the top Silicon Valley software designers work for Apple Inc.
Now, you know how cartoon characters run furiously in place just before they get smacked by the huge boulder? ‘Nuff said.
Palm: way too late and way too little. Say “hello” to the Morgan Stanley guys you see in the halls, Mr. Mercer (and cash those Palm checks immediately).
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Palm CEO: ‘We don’t want to follow design fads’; Nokia CEO challenges Apple over iPhone – February 13, 2007
Apple ‘iPhone’ could cause Nokia, Palm, Motorola, and RIM to really start to sweat – December 07, 2006
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