According to reports in the Times of India, Microsoft's youngest software exec is but a wee three years old.
Profile: Carl Yankowski
NEW POSITION: CEO, Director Palm Computing
AGE: 51
BACKGROUND: Graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, degrees in business administration, electrical engineering
FAMILY: Married
CAREER: Executive positions at Polaroid, PepsiCo, Sony Electronics, Reebok International
IN HIS WORDS: "I'm leaving Reebok only because of the extraordinary nature of this opportunity. Negotiations seriously began just a few weeks ago, and really began to be in earnest just this week. It was a whirlwind courtship. Sometimes, when something's right, you just move quickly on it."
Posted at 9:09 p.m. PST Thursday, December 2, 1999
Reebok exec is a fit at Palm
Carl Yankowski hired to lead in new market
BY TOM QUINLAN
Mercury News Staff Writer
Palm Computing has ended a bruising 1999 on an positive note, by snagging a well-regarded -- if largely unknown -- executive from shoe and apparel maker Reebok International Ltd. as its new CEO.
The Santa Clara-based company announced Thursday it has hired Carl Yankowski as CEO, with acting CEO Alan Kessler remaining as president. In a related move, the company named 3Com Corp. CEO Eric A. Benhamou and Susan Swenson, president and COO of Leap Wireless International, to Palm's board of directors along with Yankowski.
The decision by 3Com, Palm's parent company, to tap the 51-year-old Yankowski as its CEO reflects its belief that the dynamics in the hand-held computer market are shifting. This view holds that technology-driven innovations are now less important than brand-name recognition and a consumer-friendly focus on style and reliability.
Before Yankowski's most recent stint at Reebok, he worked at a string of technology companies, most notably as CEO of Sony Electronics Corp., and led technology projects at Polaroid Co., General Electric and Memorex. Earlier at PepsiCo, he worked with former Apple Computer Inc. CEO John Sculley. His background gives him credibility when it comes to building brand-name recognition in the face of larger, better known competitors, analysts said.
``Someone with a strong marketing background, particularly with an engineering and a marketing background, would probably be an appropriate CEO and executive' said Erik Suppiger, an analyst at the financial services firm Hambrecht & Quist.
But Yankowski -- who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degrees in business and electrical engineering -- brings impressive credentials as a technology visionary. This is a skill Palm also needs right now, after the defection of its founders last year and the ever-present threat from Microsoft Corp.
At Sony, Yankowski moved the consumer electronics giant into areas such as satellite TV, WebTV products and personal computers that integrated traditional applications with video.
Part of the allure
The fact that Palm needed all of those skills -- and someone who would be listened to on Wall Street as the company prepares its initial public offering -- was part of the allure of joining Palm, Yankowski said.
Since Palm is preparing its IPO, Yankowski wouldn't talk specifically about his role at the company, and what he will do there, but he clearly relishes the position, challenges and all.
``I honestly think this opportunity will give me the chance to leverage all of these skills,' he noted. ``Certainly I have expertise in building a brand-name and a consumer-centric marketing focus, and I think I've proven my ability to help develop a technology vision for a company. And my experiences appearing in front of the Wall Street guys will also help.'
While Yankowski appears to be an enigma to most in the close-knit community of industry analysts and insiders right now, those that are familiar with him have nothing but praise for Palm's choice.
``Sony doesn't build up star executives,' noted Richard Doherty, founder of the market research firm Envisioneering Inc., who's worked with Yankowski for years. ``But it's a very good move for Palm. Carl Yankowski knows consumer electronics like no other executive in North America. He's a deal-maker, he's very customer-focused, and he's a gadget guru extraordinaire.'
Even his 14-month stint at Reebok, as CEO of the Reebok footwear division, should prepare him well for the battles Palm is facing in the next century, suggested Gerry Purdy, president and CEO of the Mobile Letter, an industry newsletter.
``He's one of the few people who's gone up against Nike recently and been successful,' Purdy said. ``That's a challenge he'll face with Microsoft as well.'
With close to an estimated $1 billion in annual sales, Palm still controls of about 70 percent or more of the market for hand-held computers or personal digital assistants right now -- and it recently signed high-profile agreements with cellular phone maker Nokia and Sony.
Losing some luster
But the company has seemed to lose a little luster recently. Its Palm VII system, which featured wireless connectivity to the Internet, received a lackluster reception because it could only access a limited number of Web sites and it was almost prohibitively expensive to use.
That reception lent credence to a perception that when Palm founders Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins left last year -- and ultimately formed Handspring Inc. to compete directly with Palm earlier this year -- the company's ability to innovate technically went with them.
``When the wireless connectivity for the Palm VII was introduced, probably six out of every seven people who used it were disappointed,' Doherty said.
Even competitors, while not taking direct swipes at Palm, point out the significant technical challenges the company is facing.
``If you look at what Palm has done recently, the deals with Nokia and Sony for example, they clearly want to take what had been a product and make it a platform, and that's really hard to do,' said Phil Holden, group product manager for Microsoft's productivity appliance division.
``They started out with a personal information manager basically, and now they're working with a fairly basic technology that has to be upgraded fairly rapidly,' he added. ``With Windows CE, we already have the platform, and the proven ability to upgrade it.'
That promise is enough to keep hundreds of Windows CE licensees -- including such heavyweights as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer in the fold.
But Palm still has a strong position, and if Yankowski can bring his multiple talents to bear it should become even stronger, observers said.
``There's a lot of things Palm still needs to do right to ultimately succeed,' Doherty noted. ``But the market is now theirs to lose.'
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