News 

Jon Rubinstein, Chairman of Palm, says that it will be 18 months before Palm is able to release devices running on its Linux-based successor to the five year old Palm OS.

Earlier this month Palm chief executive Ed Colligan revealed that the OS was behind schedule and that the company had allocated additional engineers from the <

ADVERTISEMENT

scrapped Foleo project.

Rubinstein is unperturbed by the delay, claiming that the new $100 Centro smartphone will lead the company's push into consumer markets.

He also says he is encouraged by the success that RIM has had with its BlackBerry Pearl in expanding beyond its core business customers.

Rubinstein formally took the reins at Palm last month as part of a deal that saw a private equity firm take a $325 million stake. He is expected to oversee product development, a job he pursued with considerable success in his former life as the head of Apple's iPod division.