On Friday, it was reported by AllThingsD that Ex-Apple executive Jon Rubinstein, who also worked for and left Palm is now leaving his latest position at HP. Jon Rubinstein is best known for his work on the iPod, Apple’s intro to the portable music player market, better known to some as Apple’s “gateway drug”, that has now led to the successful adoption of the Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

After Rubinstein left Apple, he moved over to venture firm, Elevation Partners and eventually made his way to Palm where he replaced Ed Colligan as CEO in 2009. Rubinstein assisted in the transition from Palm’s PalmOS to WebOS. WebOS went on to appear in the Pre, Pixi, and Veer smart phones.

Jon Rubinstein later moved back to an executive position after Palm was acquired by HP and oversaw the mobile division of HP. After numerous failed attempts of HP’s mobile strategies, Rubinstein was given a “product innovation role” to help lessen the blow to the company following Rubinstein’s departure.

Rubinstein has not yet announced what he plans to do next, although it is very likely going to be another excutive role at another tech company. However, if Rubinstein has learned anything, attempting to rush great software on sketchy hardware is not the best way to go, especially from his transition from Apple, who is currently leading the mobile devices market to HP who is at the bottom of the barrel.

{via TUAW}

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