Nagel to Head Palm OS Unit

Posted By: Ed Monday, August 27, 2001 9:12:04 AM

Palm Inc. has picked David Nagel, AT&T's chief technology officer and a former Apple VP, to become president and CEO of its Platform Solutions subsidiary, the part of the company responsible for the Palm OS and other software. He is replacing Alan Kessler who resigned a few weeks ago. Nagel will start work at Palm in September and retain his seat on Palm's board.

Mr. Nagel was already in charge of the committee overseeing the creating of the new OS and software unit out of Palm's Platform Solutions Group. This appointment now means he is in charge of the subsidiary being created, too.

"Palm's plan to create two independent leading companies -- one focused on platform software and licensing, the other on hardware and software handheld solutions -- takes another significant step forward with Dave Nagel at the helm of the future platform software subsidiary,'' said Eric Benhamou, chairman of the Palm board of directors. "The platform company will operate in close partnership with all its licensees, including the Solutions Group at Palm, its largest customer.''

As AT&T's chief technology officer, Nagel led its technology strategy and R&D planning. As president of AT&T Labs, he was responsible for managing R&D for the company's next-generation Internet Protocol, data and managed services, and AT&T Business Services IT systems. Nagel also served as the chief technology officer for Concert, the global joint venture between AT&T and British Telecom.

Prior to joining AT&T, Nagel was senior vice president at Apple Computer, where he led the worldwide research and development group responsible for Macintosh OS software, Macintosh hardware, imaging and other peripheral products. Before joining Apple in 1988, Nagel was head of human factors at NASA's Ames Research Center.

"I'm delighted to lead the Palm platform business as it moves into its next phase,'' Mr. Nagel said. "While it was very hard to leave AT&T, the opportunity to lead the handheld industry's leading software platform company is an excellent fit with my skills and interests. I am excited about the potential to extend the reach of Palm's platform as the mobile market expands into new areas, such as wireless communications and multimedia, and as handheld computers gain ground as productivity solutions in the enterprise.''

Mr. Nagel will leave his position at AT&T.

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Looks like a good choice

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 9:36:23 AM #
Hopefully this will turn Palm's slight downturn around

ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 10:05:56 AM #
Boy, these guys are really incestuous - they really know how to take care of their own. We still now have Palm being run by all of the pre-Jobs II Apple rejects. They loves this because they are all comofrtable with each other and no one shakes each other up - they are all friends and buddies. This is not the way to run a company. You need to have management that shakes each other up. And what did AT&T ever know about making a good OS??? Next thing you know, they will hire a CEO who was a failed sneaker company executive. (Woops! They already did that.) Jobs fired all of these losers for a reason. They should have hired someone from IBM. You get what you pay for.

RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 10:28:43 AM #
Re: AT&T and good OS
UNIX

RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 11:28:33 AM #
Yes...UNIX. Ever hear of that one?

RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 11:42:15 AM #
Since when is getting fired by Jobs a bad thing....maybe they left because Jobs is such a jerk to work for.

RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 1:47:57 PM #
Agreed. I'm sorry to say it looks like Palm had a great thing going but is now consistently dropping the ball. Their products aren't compelling and what's worse is they don't seem to have a vision to correct it. It looks a lot like a bunch of good-ol' boys only interested in riding this thing out until the next-big-thing comes along. I, for one, certainly can wait to get another re-hash of last year's technology in a snazzy new case. I'll bet most people can.

RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
drw @ 8/27/2001 10:11:13 PM #
wasn't ibm exec lou gerstner a failed nabisco exec?

David in Pflugerville, TX
RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
Ed @ 8/27/2001 11:13:41 PM #
I've been a little nervous since I found out he was in charge of the Copland project at Apple.

---
News Editor
RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/28/2001 8:17:42 AM #
Nagel wasn't in charge of Copland. Ellen Han**** was in charge of Copland. Nagle was in charge of Apple's Advanced Technology Group. This is the group that did QuickTime, the Newton's hadwriting recognition, the full text search engine AIAT, and others. ATG was focused on research that was 3-5 years out in the future. Jobs killed ATG because Apple couldn't afford to be doing research anymore.

RE: ANOTHER Ex-Apple-ite???
Ed @ 8/28/2001 8:41:26 AM #
Are you sure? According to Cnet, "Nagel is perhaps best known in the Mac community for spearheading the ill-fated Copland operating system, one of Apple's first attempts at a next-generation OS before it released Mac OS X earlier this year. "

---
News Editor

AT&T?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 12:14:42 PM #
what's AT&T isn't that one of those yesteryear company that fail to adapt to personal computer and internet age? they barely catch up with wireless phone. So much for R&D and strategic planing. Yeah, match perfectly with Palm Inc. strategy. Cobble up old technologies repackage and resell it like yesterday bread, but let's not forget making a good marketing jingle and nice gimmick. Who need innovation, they all want simplicity, Zen and Palm economy.

RE: AT&T?
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 12:21:48 PM #
snipped from news.com

Nagel, 56, has been a member of Palm's board of directors since February 2000, and will
continue in that position. He became the first president of AT&T Labs in 1996 and was
appointed chief technology officer in 1997. He takes his new post on Sept. 17, Palm said.
-------

okay, this guys stink!

ATT labs around 1996? ehrr..what's that? Why is he there but not in Lucent?

appointed ATT tech officer in 1997. Isn't that around the time when ATT goes down hill and sinking so fast?

Palm's board of director since Feb 2000. Have a big laugh. Palm's board of director from circa 2000 should all received some spanking before being fired, NOT promoted and given a position to be in charge of technological direction.

Palm Inc. start to soudn more and more like a looser club. All the way from shoe salesman as a boss, failing-phone dude, and combined with OS wannamaker.



RE: AT&T?
AriB @ 8/27/2001 2:55:07 PM #
The only losers are these stupid anonymous trolls on this forum

Palm should have hired someone like this!!!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 1:54:00 PM #

http://www.detonate.net/media/dancemonkeyboy.mpg


RE: Palm should have hired someone like this!!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 2:06:11 PM #
nothing like watching a middle aged bald man dance himself into a heart attack!

I loved the squeals!

I'd be dancing too if I was worth $17 BILLION...
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 2:17:49 PM #
and the 13th richest man in the world.

RE: Palm should have hired someone like this!!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 2:28:05 PM #
13 richest man squeals like a little girl

maybe he squeals but I would not want to fight him
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 3:17:52 PM #
,

He can afford to do whatever he wants...
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 3:43:45 PM #
.

RE: Palm should have hired someone like this!!!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2001 4:24:47 PM #
roll over and play dead for the rich guy...good dog...

I am glad I don't work for you!

What about the PALM Stockholders all getting screwed???

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/28/2001 9:21:21 AM #
That's right - the Palm stockholders are all being royally screwed over by these BUREAUCRATS with their steak luncheons, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes! Palm has 20+ different Chiefs and Vice Presidents, EACH earning over 500 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do and I still can't figure it out! One thing I do know is that the company lost 154 million dollars last quarter and I'll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these Chiefs and Vice Presidents!!! The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be Survival of the Unfittest. Well, in my book, you either do it right or you get eliminated. -GG

RE: What about the PALM Stockholders all getting screwed???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/28/2001 9:53:22 AM #
Option baby, you forgot option. Each of these veeps got option and ready to dump 'em when the time limit is over.

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