Palm's Skillman exits as latest in mass exodus

HP late this past evening was found to have lost another key executive in the weeks following its acquisition of Palm. Design VP Peter Skillman, best known as the designer of the Palm Pre, has left the newly combined company for an unknown destination. The executive was a rare veteran at the company and had been at Palm for 11 years, dating from Palm's PDA-only days.

Skillman is noted by TechCrunch as having been influential in the organic design of the Pre, which was designed to resemble a smooth stone; the aesthetic also influenced the Pixi.

The exit marks the latest in a slew of departures that have gutted much of the core design team. Key webOS interface designer Matias Duarte left to work on Android in May, while webOS lead Michael Abbott switched to Twitter in April and Product Development VP Mike Bell left for Intel in July. Non-executive but important engineers have also left, such as webOS interface designer Rich Dellinger, who joined Apple and will likely influence iOS' notification system.

Without the leads, HP may face difficulty implementing promised new phones and its upcoming webOS 2.0 upgrade, both of which have been considered key to reviving the Palm name after the company's first two devices failed to take off in the marketplace. HP had bought Palm largely to revitalize its own sagging mobile efforts, which had little success through their dependence on Windows Mobile, but now may need to hire additonal talent.

By Electronista Staff