Former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein was elected to join Amazon’s board, the company announced today via an SEC filing. Rubisntein is currently a senior VP and general manager at Hewlett-Packard, following HP’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm earlier this year.

Before joining Palm, Rubinstein was in charge of Apple’s iPod division and was the company’s senior hardware executive. At Palm, he tried to take on his former employer by developing WebOS smartphones which compete with the iPhone. Going after Apple took him off Steve Jobs’ Christmas list.

Amazon also competes directly with Apple on various fronts, including music and movie downloads and digital books. Rubinstein’s experience at Apple with the iPod and how the iTunes Store operated, although a bit dated now, could prove useful to Amazon as it tries to move from selling physical to digital media.

Rubinstein will become only the fifth member of Amazon’s unusually small board. He will join Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Madrona VC Tom Alberg, Kleiner Perkins VC Bing Gordon, and academic John Seely Brown.

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• JON RUBINSTEIN
• AMAZON

Person: Jon Rubinstein

Companies: Palm, Apple

Jon Rubinstein is a senior VP and general manager at Hewlett-Packard, following its 2010 acquisition of Palm, where he was CEO. Rubinstein left his position as senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division on April 14, 2006. He became executive chairman of the board at Palm, Inc. after private equity firm Elevation Partners completed a significant investment in the handheld manufacturer in October 2007. He is currently the CEO of Palm, Inc., replacing former CEO Ed Colligan. Rubinstein is married...

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Company: Amazon

Website: amazon.com

Launch Date: 1994

IPO: NASDAQ:AMZN

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), is a leading global Internet company and one of the most trafficked Internet retail destinations worldwide. Amazon is one of the first companies to sell products deep into the long tail by housing them in numerous warehouses and distributing products from many partner companies. Amazon directly sells or acts as a platform for the sale of a broad range of products. These include books, music, videos, consumer electronics, clothing and household products. The majority of Amazon’s...

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