The re-emergence of Palm as a major player in the mobile devices market has taken place under the guidance of an Irish hand at the helm.

John Hartnett, a Limerick man, started his career working on the factory floor of Wang Computers. He spent nine years studying marketing and finance at night.

After stints with Digital and Claris Software, he was involved in setting up an Irish base for MetaCreations and was subsequently asked to go to the US to take over its worldwide operations.

A year later, in 1999, he received a call from Handspring, a breakout company from Palm, and joined its executive team.

Palm subsequently acquired Handspring, which led him to his current position as Palm's senior vice-president for global markets.

With Palm's imminent demise heralded a few years ago, Hartnett has taken a lot of satisfaction from its shift in direction and new strength.

"It's great and it's been exciting to be part of that. It's nice to leave a mark and be part of shaping the company's success," he says. "It's not so great when you're going through tough times, but fantastic when you go through those times and get to where we are now, and see the success and growth as a result of the strategy we deployed."

He continues: "Several years ago, we saw the major growth area was going to be in smartphones and felt the company was well positioned to tackle it, and we did. We laid out a strategy and focused the team on it."

Hartnett is also proud that Ireland was chosen for a research and development centre location. "Setting up something like that is no longer a decision based on tax breaks. It's about the right people, education, skill sets and so on."