Former Palm chief executive Jon Rubenstein leaves HP

Former Palm chief executive Jon Rubenstein has stepped down from his position as senior vice president at HP as the firm's webOS platform is set to be released to the open source community.

An HP spokesperson confirmed the news to V3, explaining that contractual commitment to remain at the company had expired.

"Jon has fulfilled his commitment to HP," they said.

Rubenstein's departure comes less than two years after HP agreed to purchase the firm in a landmark $1.2bn deal.

At the time, analysts speculated that the move was made in part to bring Rubenstein and other Palm executives to HP.

Gartner research vice president Carolina Milanesi told V3 that Rubenstein's departure from the firm was not unexpected, given HP's dismantling of its mobile unit.

"This really is no surprise," she said.

"I do not really think that he could fit somewhere, given that what he came in to do did not materialise."

Rubenstein, who also worked at Apple and was credited with helping to turn around the company around following Steve Jobs' return to the firm, had been tasked with leading HP's mobile push.

The company had failed to make a dent in either the tablet or handset markets with its Pre and Touchpad devices, though.

In August then-chief executive Leo Apotheker announced that the company would be abandoning all of its webOS hardware lines.

The process has continued under new chief Meg Whitman, who has outlined a plan to transition the webOS software to an open-sourced platform.

That effort is expected to wind up in September with the release of Open webOS 1.0.

"When the Touchpad failed it was only a matter of time before he would either leave or be pushed out," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group told V3.

"He is Apple-trained and known to be the only guy that came close to Steve Jobs full skill set, other executives at HP likely rightfully saw that as a threat."

Enderle added that while Rubenstein's next appearance will likely be in the consulting or venture capital spaces, he could also thrive as the head of a smaller technology firm.

"Rubenstein was created in the Jobs mold, which means he would be best at a company that had a few products that it could afford to market well," he said.

"That is about as far from HP as you are likely to get."