Mobile chip giant Qualcomm (QCOM -0.20%) just announced that it's elected Jon Rubinstein to its board of directors. It's a relatively minor announcement, but could still be considered a win for the company considering Rubinstein's extensive tech experience.

Rubinstein made a name for himself as a hardware exec at Apple (AAPL 0.52%) during the early days of the iPod and iMac. He then went on to become CEO of Palm to orchestrate a turnaround, which fell flat despite his best efforts. Palm was subsequently acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 0.11%). Rubinstein didn't last long at HP, and left the company shortly after. It's also worth noting that Rubinstein is also on Amazon.com's (AMZN -1.65%) board because the e-tail leader is increasingly becoming a force to be reckoned with in mobile computing.

In the video below, Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, discusses how Qualcomm may benefit from his expertise.