Getting any CEO, MD or executive from a major company to talk about the competition is like attempting to get blood from a stone.

Even those that do very rarely stray from the corporate line, talking about what their company has to offer, rather than delivering any form of sincere comment on their rivals – Steve Jobs the very notable exception to the rule.

Former Palm CEO Jon Runinstein's assertion that he believes Android is a regressive platform, then, is a fruitier admission than most - but it was hardly an unprovoked declaration.

Putting Palm on reset

"We had the unique opportunity to start from a blank sheet of paper," Rubinstein - who now serves as HP's general manager of Palm - said in an interview at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, batting away claims that webOS is far less radical a platform than Android.

"Palm OS, the original Palm OS, was sixteen years old, and hadn't been supported in a while. So it really wasn't anything we could leverage from."

According to Rubinstein, most of webOS's rivals have opted to merely mirror iOS, rather than offer up anything unique.

Ganging up on Google

In contrast, webOS's WebKit base means he considers it a far more progressive format than Android.

"If anything. I'd say Android is based on Java, which is actually sort of more backward looking," he concluded.

"We took a real leap forward in doing what we did. It's very similar to what the Chrome guys are doing at Google."

You can see the interview in full in video form over on All Things Digital.

[source: Apple Insider]