Palm rather likes defecting Apple employees, actually

Two years ago, Bloomberg reports, Palm's Ed Colligan rejected an offer from Steve Jobs to join Silicon Valley's hiring cartel.

Jobs, Apple's CEO, told Colligan he was concerned that Rubinstein was recruiting Apple employees. "We must do whatever we can to stop this," Jobs said in the communications.

The details of these agreements not to hire one anothers' employees aren't known, but as the U.S. Justice Department is "investigating possible collusion," it stands to reason that Palm would find reason to turn down the offer, then leak it to the press.

Colligan, you'll remember, infamously dismissed the iPhone's chances like so: "We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in."

That's true! It was more like waltzing in.