HP shuffles management with new heads of WebOS and US PC divisions

HP has announced a management reshuffle, appointing a new head for its PC division in the US and for the WebOS group now that the company has launched the TouchPad tablet.

Jon Rubinstein, head of the WebOS project since its inception by Palm, will become senior vice president for product innovation in the HP Personal Systems Group (PSG).

Given HP's plans for broadening the WebOS ecosystem across its range of PCs and printers, Rubinstein is a logical fit to drive adoption of the operating system.

"With the launch of WebOS 3.0, our team has delivered a world-class platform, and it is now time to take things to the next level," said Rubinstein.

"I'm looking forward to my new role and driving further innovation for WebOS and other PSG products."

Rubenstein will be replaced by Stephen DeWitt, former head of PSG Americas at HP, who is credited with major efficiency savings in his former division.

Stephen DiFranco, who joined HP last year from Lenovo as head of its US solutions partner organisation, will take DeWitt's job.

"Stephen DeWitt has a proven ability to build and scale organisations into global, multibillion dollar operations, and I am confident that he will take WebOS to the next level," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president of PSG at HP.

"At the same time, we continue to leverage the core strengths of Silicon Valley icon Jon Rubinstein to apply his considerable talents across the PSG portfolio."