• The New York Times, Friday, March 9, 2007 11 AM

Paul Mercer, who was the lead designer of Version 7 of the Macintosh graphical desktop finder, has joined Palm to help it respond to the challenge posed by Apple's new iPhone.

While iPhone is still several months away from being available, its flexible interface is already shaking up the cell-phone industry -- including Palm, which makes the hybrid phone-organizers known as smart phones. Industry analysts have said that the Apple phone will force the industry to shift its focus from hardware to software design.

Mercer joined Palm with two employees from Iventor, an independent design firm that he headed in Palo Alto, Calif. Palm did not acquire the company. Palm OS software is widely seen within the industry as aging and in need of a fundamental revision. Last year, the company adopted Microsoft's Windows Mobile software for one version of its Treo smart phone.

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