Palm dragged into Apple's former design engineer

Palm has just invited top Silicon design experts Paul Mercer to work as an answer to the challenge from Apple iPhone.

Paul Mercer had previously been a design expert for Apple officially working for Palm three weeks ago. Mercer's main task is to participate in the project of designing an entirely new product line for Palm.

Palm spokesman declined to comment on the information but said joining the Palm with Mercer in this phase also has two other design engineers of independent design firm Iventor.

Engineer has never graduated

Although famous in the design industry, Paul Mercer never graduated from university. Joining Apple in 1987, shortly thereafter became a design engineer in the design of the Macintosh project Version 7. Mercer then founded his own software company called Pixo. It is Apple's software designers who use Pixo's software development system to build the iPod console interface.

Mercer recently signed a contract to design a portable MP3 player for Samsung. The Samsung Z5 designed by him has become the best-selling MP3 player in the Korean market.

Paul Mercer himself also built a set of design standards that are currently very much applied in the field of compact consumer electronics design.

"IPhone seismic"

The Apple iPhone has really shaken the handset industry with its unique design and extremely flexible. Industry giants now sit on the fire and constantly seek to release products that can compete with the iPhone.

Take the LG Prada, for example. This product has an almost identical design to the Apple iPhone.

Analysts say the arrival of Apple iPhone has forced the handset industry to divert attention to product design instead of focusing on hardware like before.

Despite being a pioneer in the handheld PC market, Palm has recently been under intense competition from stunned competitors such as Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Microsoft.

Hoang Dung