Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein on the Pre, the Pixi, and Apple's sense of taste

Jon Rubinstein, CEO of resurgent smartphone-maker Palm (PALM), didn't want to talk about the iPhone when I caught up with him after an Engadget event in New York City on Sunday. "I don't focus on the competition," he told me.

But he was more than happy to talk about the biggest lesson he learned while working for Steve Jobs at Apple, where he led the division that invented the iPod -- a product so transformative that an early version is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. "I learned a sense of taste at Apple," Rubinstein, 53, says. "I learned how to make products for consumers rather than engineers."