Apple: Poachers will be punished

21.08.2009
It seems Steve Jobs prefers his eggs-ecutives fried, not poached. And that could place him in boiling water with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Smoking-gun e-mails unearthed by Bloomberg suggest that back in August 2007, the Pope of 1 Infinite Loop contacted then Palm CEO Ed Colligan with a deal: .

[ Palm isn't alone in Apple's cross-hairs. Get Cringely's take on the battle with Google: "." | Stay up to date on Robert X. Cringely's musings and observations with InfoWorld's . ]

Colligan not only said thanks, but no thanks, he also casually mentioned that such collusion would probably be looked upon with disfavor by Johnny Law. Per :

"Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal," Colligan said to Jobs, 54, according to the communications.

This whole thing really started when former Apple iPod impresario Jon Rubenstein jumped ship to Palm just as the Jesus Phone was being unveiled to the world. Lo and behold, a few years later we have the Palm Pre -- the most iPhone-like cell phone this side of Cupertino. As of last June, Rubenstein is Palm's CEO, and .