Palm has had its most successful product launch in years with last weekend's launch of the Palm Pre. After the launch of the phone, which was plagued with shortages, Palm is also getting a new CEO. The Palm board of directors has appointed Jon Rubinstein to be the new chairman and CEO.

Rubinstein will take up his new post after current Palm CEO Ed Colligan steps down after leading Palm for 16 years. I guess Colligan wanted to end on a high note, and the launch of the Pre is as high as things will get for Palm in the near future. Rubinstein will take up his new post on June 12th.

“I am very excited about taking on this expanded role at Palm,” said Rubinstein. “Ed and I have worked very hard together the past two years, and I’m grateful to him for everything he’s done to help set the company up for success. With Palm webOS we have ten-plus years of innovation ahead of us, and the Palm Pre is already one of the year’s hottest new products. Due in no small part to Ed’s courageous leadership, we’re in great shape to get Palm back to continuous growth, and we plan to keep the trajectory going upward.”

Via Palm