Palm’s hotshot designer jumps to Google

Update: Google has confirmed that Duarte is now working on user experience for Android.

A few weeks after gadget maker Palm announced its sale to HP, the world’s largest technology company, hotshot Palm designer Matias Duarte has left Palm for Google, according to a report by AllThingsD reporter John Paczkowski.

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At Palm, Duarte was in charge of human-computer interfaces and the crucial area known as user experience. Paczkowski says Duarte will probably do user experience work for Google’s Android operating system.

Duarte, who led the design of the Danger Hiptop device that was one of the early hits for always-on text-crazy consumers, is said to have had a significant role in Palm’s WebOS mobile operating system, which is impressive despite its mediocre success against iPhone and Android phones.

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