How I choose to remember Palm

Touchpad fire sale

Today is my last day at Palm. I say this with regret, both for what could have been and missing out on what is yet to be, but also with relief for being able to begin a new chapter in my career.

The image above was taken at the Palm campus store during the first hours of the infamous TouchPad fire sale, where the device suddenly became a hot commodity and eager buyers lined up across campus every day for weeks just to get one, and for a brief, shining moment, the TouchPad was the #2 tablet on the market. This is how I choose to remember Palm, being stunned and a little high with the unexpected excitement, minus the knowledge that we were trying to make the best of an unwinnable situation.

Yes…the sad story of Palm has been beaten to death, so I choose to remember the fun I’ve had.  In a failing semblance of chronological order:

  • Getting invited to the webOS launch party in 2009 (this was actually a couple months before I got hired).  Met someone who at the time I described as “that cute guy with the glasses,” and for the past two years have had the privilege of calling my boyfriend.
  • Organizing preDevCamp, which had 1000 attendees and was held in 80 cities around the world shortly :) after the launch of the Palm Pre.
  • The New Year’s Eve 1000th app countdown, which actually required so much last minute, half-drunken coordination with the App Catalog ops team that we were all kinda surprised we nailed the timing right at midnight.
  • Referring to the ops team as “the nerds” whenever the App Catalog broke, and getting away with it.
  • The App Catalog blanket.
  • The App Catalog license plate (which I’m not giving up).
  • The Oprah moment when every attendee of NYC Dev Day got a Pre 2.
  • Ok, so…there’s this style of drinking glass I really like.  I mean, this glass shares a piece of my soul.  But you can only buy them by the case, which is way too many glasses for one person to handle.  So when Josh Marinacci and James Harris and I found these glasses on our table when we went out to eat after NYC Dev Day, we took the obvious course of action.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to steal water glasses when an attentive waiter keeps hovering to refill them?  So hard.
  • Getting kidnapped by SCALE9x attendees while screaming “The hackers! The hackers have got me!  Help, someone file a DMCA takedown!” (Whoever successfully delivered me to the WebOS Internals booth won a phone or something. Also, this stunt almost got security involved thinking I was being kidnapped for reals.)
  • Being named one of the most influential women in mobile tech by LAPTOP Magazine.  (J and K, thank you for the roles you played in this.  You are forever on my good side.  :)
  • Inside jokes:  Snoopy.  Unicorn boy.  Jiggly Boobies.  Palm Frogger, aka trying to avoid getting hit by a car when walking across Mary Ave. to get from SV1 to SV3.  Last man standing.  The Enyo baby tattoo bounty (which is still open).  Midgets on unicycles.  I’m no meteorologist, but I’m pretty sure it’s raining bitches.
  • Launching the Pre 2, Veer, and especially the TouchPad.  Hell, I’m giving myself technical credit on the Pre3, too. (But nothing else.  You know who you are!)
  • Getting to know so many great developers.  You guys are my extended family.
  • Everything WebOS Internals has done to build the most elegant, civilized, trustworthy hacker community a company could ever hope for.

There are surely more good memories that I’ve missed, so feel free to add yours in the comments.

As a friend who’s been ex-Palm for longer than I’ve worked here once told me, Palm DNA is strong.  Employees will come and go like so many renewed cells in a body, and they will continue to make amazing products.  Enyo 2 exited beta just last week, which marks a new beginning for web developers to bring this DNA beyond webOS, same as I’ll bring this DNA with me.  I will always consider myself a friend of the Enyo project, and will continue to support and promote Enyo developers as I can.

As for what’s next, I’m taking some time to spend with family before starting my next thing, which I’ll share soon enough.  But as I’ve said several times this week:  the Internet is a small place, and may our projects intersect again in the future.

PS: Your mom, bitches.

10 Replies to “How I choose to remember Palm”

  1. Thank you for everything you’ve done for the community in the last three years. May the force be with you and the odds be ever in your favor.

  2. What more can I say than: Good Luck! I had such great times meeting and hanging out w/ you & guys from Palm…sad to see it come to this, but happy for the experiences I had. Thanks for being as nice in person as online…Hope to meet up soon again…

  3. Unicorn man is horrible.

    Thank you for all you have done for developers and for the comraderie of the developer relations team.

    I hope you enjoy your family, and whatever the future holds for you.

    In other words, double down on your family time, then find joy in all you do in the coming months. Cheers

  4. Congrats on exit!
    and it has been fun and crazy ride at Palm… something I will never forget too.

    It is true that there’s something about Palm DNA. Many of us are now working at mobile-related (OS, software, hardware, etc) companies and keeping really good frienemy relationship.
    I still keep running into somebody from Palm at random places and feel good bonding, like a family.

    So good luck on your next adventure :-D

  5. Briefly worked with Sindo in the UK Business Dev team. We corresponded a couple of times but was always very impressed with your passion in the community. Good luck with whatever you plan to do next

  6. will miss your sense of humor and liveliness on the Twitter feed. Both are things I miss in webOS now, too! I hope you enjoy your new job, too.

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