HP shouldn’t give Rubinstein the CEO job

By now, you know that Hewlett-Packard needs a new CEO and some are suggesting that Jon Rubinstein, Palm's CEO before it was acquired by HP, should take the top spot. I think this is a terrible idea because Rubinstein's reign at Palm proved to be disastrous.

The case for Rubinstein goes like this: he has extensive experience at Apple (he's considered one of the fathers of the iPod) and he can help remake HP into a similar company based around webOS. Additionally, he took control of Palm at a time when it was already in a death spiral, the company didn't have the resources to compete against its multi-billion dollar rivals, so the deck was stacked against him anyway.

These are legitimate arguments but looking at the decisions that Rubinstein made in his brief time as Palm' head reveals some short sightedness that should disqualify him from being the new CEO of the world's largest technology company.

When the Palm Pre and webOS were first introduced, there was a lot of legitimate excitement about the device and operating system. The six-month delay between introduction and debut hurt the device but not as much as the shoddy hardware and launch partner Rubinstein chose.

The hardware on the Pre was not up to snuff: the screen was not as good as some of the competitors, the keyboard was difficult to use and the overall built quality on the first run of units was not great. The follow-up webOS device, the Pixi, had a nicer keyboard and form factor but it was underpowered from the get go, aimed at a demographic that was quickly disappearing. It also immediately bifurcated the platform.

The hardware quality gripe could be subjective, as I still know a few people who love the Pre. The choice of Sprint as a launch partner is not really defensible in hindsight.

At a holiday party last year, I spoke with a senior engineer at Palm who told me over a few adult beverages that Sprint was much easier to work with than Verizon. This also means that Palm received a better per-unit price than it would have had with Verizon, so the decision was relatively simple to make.

"If we could have launched at Verizon prior to the DROID, I think we would have gotten the attention the DROID got and since I believe we have a better product, I think we could have done better," Rubinstein said during the company's third-quarter earnings last year.

This type of anguish makes me laugh because it could have had Verizon as a launch partner if it conceded on a few issues. Instead, Rubinstein chose the short-term boost of working with Sprint rather than looking at the long-term benefits of being on the nation's largest carrier.

The Pre would have also sold a boatload of Verizon units if it debuted on Big Red because, at the time, this subscriber base was starving for an iPhone-killing option. T-Mobile may have been a better launch partner because it would have enabled Palm to get a jump-start on its GSM versions, which could be used in European markets.

These decisions definitely seem simple in hindsight but it's a CEO's job to make these right moves.

To be fair, Rubinstein's resume also includes the creation and introduction of webOS, which is genuinely innovative and fun. HP will take some cues from Apple by pushing tightly integrated hardware and software.

This big webOS push should include tablets, smartphones and even printers, but these will likely be aimed at consumers. HP also has a massive enterprise business unit that won't be switching to webOS soon and Rubinstein has shown no signs he can make waves with corporate customers.

I believe that Rubinstein should play an important role with "HPalm" but there's no way he should be the top of the totem pole.

Contact Marin Perez via email or follow @Marinperez on Twitter