The costs continue to mount from HP's short and ultimately sour webOS adventure, though this time not just in a monetary sense.

Jon Rubinstein – the former Palm CEO brought into the HP fold following the $1.2 billion acquisition of the firm in April 2010 – has announced he has left the organisation, effectively immediately, to "take a well deserved break after four and a half years of developing webOS".

His departure comes a month after HP decided to make the platform open source, following the company's decision to abandon support for both TouchPad and Palm Pre handsets under the watch of former CEO Léo Apotheker.

Step by step

In truth, Rubinstein's influence at the company had long since eradicated.

Even before the company's decision to drop webOS hardware last August, the former Apple man – widely credited with having a hand in the development of the original iPhone – had lost his day to day control over the platform, having been handed a vague product innovation role within HP's Personal Systems Group.

Indeed, All Things D reports sources claimed Rubinstein hadn't been seen at HP's offices since Apotheker moved against webOS almost six months ago.

"That 'innovation' gig he was given in July was his first step toward the exit," an unnamed former Palm exec with close ties to Rubinstein told the site.

Rubinstein's departure comes days after HP released a key piece of webOS technology under an open-source license. The company plans to release the platform in its entirety by September.

[source: All Things D]