Palm Design VP Joins Nokia as VP of MeeGo UX
Peter Skillman brings interface knowledge to burgeoning open source platform.
Peter Skillman, design VP at Palm has defected to Nokia where he will lend his user interface knowledge to MeeGo. Skill worked directly on Palm's webOS, which while never a top-seller, has definitely earned high marks for its design presentation.
Skillman was also a VP of user experience at Palm before his promotion to design VP. At Nokia, Skillman will oversee the MeeGo user experience as VP of MeeGo UX and services. Skillman is a logical choice for MeeGo, not only because of his experience, but because the operating system already borrows a few visual cues from Palm's OS, namely it's carousel-style app-switching.
In the wake of HP's Palm purchase Matias Duarte, Palm's senior director of human interface and user experience and lead designer behind webOS has gone to Google for Android and now a Skillman has gone to Nokia for MeeGo. What this means for the user interfaces of these three operating systems is uncertain, but one thing that is for sure: It's going to be an interesting next 6 months on mobile platforms.