HP Reverses Course, Will Keep PC Unit

[Savor]

Amazing how many of these also-rans are finding themselves in a "damned of you, damned if you don't" position, after Apple showed up (first in 2007, then again in 2010) and turned everything upside down for so many players in the industry.

It isn't as if HP was doing anything remotely impressive in the consumer sector before all this happened. Just another generic box-maker trying to follow the course Apple set with limited success.

No vision. Nothing really inspiring. I wonder at what point HP became a massive yawnfest. No wonder Steve Jobs felt so sad for them.

Yet, HP was #1 in computer sales battling with Dell. Respect the pioneers of Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs actually cared about HP since he looked up to Bill Hewlett. That is one of the few companies he actually respected.

Companies like Apple wouldn't exist without IBM, HP, or Sony that were already successful BEFORE Apple was founded. We wouldn't have computers without IBM which holds the most patents. We wouldn't have iPod without the Walkman before it.

But your fanboy post sounds like nothing happened before 2007. Yet, evolution is based on building on the shoulders of people from yesteryear.

 

[iMikeT]

I can see a movie being made about this, it's full of great plot twists!

 

[*LTD*]

can someone explain the relevance of this post on this site?

It's apparently germane to the discussion in terms of a competitor to Apple that we should be paying attention to. In light of that assessment you might as well report on everyone then. Go figure.

I have no complaints about it, though. At least the story has some lessons to impart.

 

[roadbloc]

Perhaps HP can't find a buyer for its non-profitable business unit?

Where do you come up with that conclusion exactly?

 

[rmwebs]

I played with a friends HP touchpad...Web OS sucks. It looks cool, but it feels dated. Android 4.0 kills this, and so does IOS 5.0. Even microsoft Windows 8 is way behind. (The metro UI part) I play with that too at work. Not impressed yet.

We all know Apple is gonna blow it out of the park in IOS 6.0 because Android is coming strong.

HP makes good server hardware but crappy PC hardware. They should spin it off but if they could put some effort into it, they will be ok.

I wouldn't say it feels dated at all as someone who's got one (and not spent a few mins playing on a friends).

It does feel....dead. Its an empty slate with very few apps. But a lot of the concepts are fantastic, and the underlying structure of how its made is very clever. That probably wont mean much to consumers, but from a development perspective, its VERY easy to build apps for it.

 

[gnasher729]

HP Accountant: "I think we should dump the consumer computing hardware business. It's a money pit."

HP Executive: "What are you talking about? We just sold every TouchPad we made!"

HP Accountant: "Um, yeah, we sold each at a big loss."

HP Executive: "Yes, but we sold hundreds of thousands!!!"

Watch for another flip flop next year.

I'll quote Steve Jobs from memory, who was quoting someone else: Profit is the difference between two big numbers, revenue and cost. If you have huge revenue, you _can_ make huge profit. You just have to figure out how.

HP's PC unit is the worlds biggest in unit sales. more than three times as many as Apple. Now all they have to do is turn that number into money. One bit of advice from Steve Jobs would be: Doesn't matter how much you make next month. Or in the next quarter. Or the next year. Get yourself a plan what to do over the next ten years. Because that's how long it took Apple.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

can someone explain the relevance of this post on this site?

Because the entire tech market is linked one way or another. Major moves by big companies have direct effects on each other and the market.

 

[samcraig]

Amazing how many of these also-rans are finding themselves in a "damned of you, damned if you don't" position, after Apple showed up (first in 2007, then again in 2010) and turned everything upside down for so many players in the industry.

It isn't as if HP was doing anything remotely impressive in the consumer sector before all this happened. Just another generic box-maker trying to follow the course Apple set with limited success.

No vision. Nothing really inspiring. I wonder at what point HP became a massive yawnfest. No wonder Steve Jobs felt so sad for them.

Oh good - your cliche "Also-Ran" made an appearance

We've seen this headline before:

Also-ran tech company gets new CEO; promises big changes

Sure, you can expect good things . . . just don't bend over.

Oh good - your cliche "Also-Ran" made an appearance AGAIN

I have to ask, do you work in advertising or PR? Because you're actually pretty good and presenting fiction as fact. There is still plenty of room for "generic box makers" to make a profit. What is Apples marketshare in the laptop and desktop markets? And who dominate those markets? Can you guess? That's right, the "generic box makers".

LTD wishes he was Steve Jobs. He thinks he has the ability to distort reality - when in actually - he doesn't. He fails at every turn. I'm not a big "fan" of the up voting and down voting (I find it pretty silly) - but it's pretty telling that more times than not - even the other Apple fanatics don't care for him

 

[*LTD*]

Yet, HP was #1 in computer sales battling with Dell.

When your business is built on running an OS that is pimped out to everyone and their dog, you damn well better be pushing insane volume.

NOT IMPRESSIVE. Google is doing the same thing with Android. Those that don't understand vertical integration and fear the risks associated with it rely on massive volume and razor-thin margins, with next to no differentiation. Anyone can do that. Damn, I'm yawning already just thinking about it. How hopelessly banal and boring of HP and Dell.

HP used to be a pioneer. We're a long way from those times.

 

[mouthbreather]

They did a Netflix.

I smell a meme coming on!

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

When your business is built on running an OS that is pimped out to everyone and their dog, you damn well better be pushing insane volume.

NOT IMPRESSIVE. Google is doing the same thing with Android. Those that don't understand vertical integration and fear the risks associated with it rely on massive volume and razor-thin margins, with next to no differentiation. Anyone can do that. Damn, I'm yawning already just thinking about it. How hopelessly banal and boring of HP and Dell.

HP used to be a pioneer. We're a long way from those times.

Once again you fail to look beyond consumers and i devices. HP is owning the business sector.

 

[something3153]

Amazing how many of these also-rans are finding themselves in a "damned of you, damned if you don't" position, after Apple showed up (first in 2007, then again in 2010) and turned everything upside down for so many players in the industry.

It isn't as if HP was doing anything remotely impressive in the consumer sector before all this happened. Just another generic box-maker trying to follow the course Apple set with limited success.

No vision. Nothing really inspiring. I wonder at what point HP became a massive yawnfest. No wonder Steve Jobs felt so sad for them.

You know, I bought an 8440p because it's a substantially better machine than the MBP13 I also looked at. Specfically, it offered higher resolution than the 1280x800 joke Apple had on offer. It is also anything but flimsy. It actually feels like a slab of rock. I'm very glad that I'll be able to keep buying HP laptops.

 

[MJL]

Maybe they heard what Steve had to say about HP pulling out of the PC business.

Unfortunately the writing is already on the wall that it is no different at Apple. SJ also mentioned "play nice with your firends" but that mandate has already gone, especially with the latest EFI update (see my previous rant post) and also with the remark from TC about all that money sitting in the bank is not really necessary.

Apple is also changing direction - OS X is morphing into iOS and they are going to be leaving the professional market behind hence a great motifier for HP to stay in the business computing. I remember the heydays of Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft, IBM and they all thought that they could bully the market. Same same as Apple today. We'll see where Apple is in 10 years time - they have already almost but complete killed off the iPod (everyone is putting the music on their mobile phone, why carry two pieces of equipment when one can do) and cameras and a lot of simple games machines are all but dead too (also on the mobile phone). Depending on bleeding edge technology is a fast track to oblivion.

 

[boss.king]

When your business is built on running an OS that is pimped out to everyone and their dog, you damn well better be pushing insane volume.

NOT IMPRESSIVE. Google is doing the same thing with Android. Those that don't understand vertical integration and fear the risks associated with it rely on massive volume and razor-thin margins, with next to no differentiation. Anyone can do that. Damn, I'm yawning already just thinking about it. How hopelessly banal and boring of HP and Dell.

HP used to be a pioneer. We're a long way from those times.

Double-standards of measurement. Your point is invalid.

 

[jdesign]

I wouldn't say it feels dated at all as someone who's got one (and not spent a few mins playing on a friends).

It does feel....dead. Its an empty slate with very few apps. But a lot of the concepts are fantastic, and the underlying structure of how its made is very clever. That probably wont mean much to consumers, but from a development perspective, its VERY easy to build apps for it.

I agree, i have one, and definitely have some good concepts especially on how you don't need a home button to do things. a lot of things still need works, but wow love this thing. for apps , not much there but once you found ones you like its all good

 

[*LTD*]

I'm not a big "fan" of the up voting and down voting (I find it pretty silly) - but it's pretty telling that more times than not - even the other Apple fanatics don't care for him

It doesn't actually bother me because I know exactly who's doing it and why they're doing it.

Mac Rumors is its own little reality. We see the proof of this every time Apple's numbers are posted or consumer satisfaction reports roll around, and all the naysayers and contrarians (who actually spend time camping an Apple-centric site) stand around staring in incredulity, unable to understand how and why consumers keep buying Macs in record numbers. Or how they can continue to pay an alleged "Apple Tax", etc. Or how in hell the iPad can do so well in the market.

If I had some sort of beef with all that I wouldn't be here reading about how you think I really really really want to be someone other than me. LOL

 

[jona2125]

HP never once said they were quitting the business. That was a misinterpreted statement

 

[Savor]

I'm personally still ticked off HP bought Palm before killing them off and webOS devices. Too many "bozos" running the show in these companies.

ALOT of things happened in tech this year. From the The Trojan One named Elop selling out Nokia's dignity to Microsoft, Google buying Motorola, HP's recent quagmire, RIM's internal fighting in the higher ranks, Jobs' resignation and death, and recently Sony now buying out Ericsson's share. Alot of shuffling of the deck.

The top heads at Nokia, RIM, and HP are completely lost. Wasn't it just a few years ago Nokia had a 40% marketshare? Now it dwindled to 22%. RIM was #1 in the smartphone segment in the NA market just a couple years ago before getting surpassed by Android and iOS easily. And HP is still #1 in computer sales. Then the mess Leo made. HP is like doing a chess move and then a few minutes later they want to re-do that move.

 

[something3153]

Double-standards of measurement. Your point is invalid.

Moving the goalposts: *LTD*'s favorite hobby.

 

[nanofrog]

Perhaps HP can't find a buyer for its non-profitable business unit?

If you mean the Enterprise unit, it is profitable.

Where they've run into problems, is that the consumer versions don't have much in the way of margins, and it's been neglected due to short-term thinking and no product focus from the board (quarterly profits is all they consider, not long term product direction).

Hopefully, the CEO shift will change this, but we'll have to wait and see...

Rumor has it this was all a move based on Taxes or something to that effect. That is why HP split its business. I heard this from one of our inside sales analysts.

This is what I understand as well (came after the initial announcement that the PSG was to be spun off).

Yep, this is driving, or was driving the decision. Even if the hardware group is surviving there are lots of other subsidiaries being closed down for tax purposes regardless of profitability. For example, Logoworks is being shut down and the people are being let go despite its profitability. HP won't even sell the business to leaders within it who want it. The reason is HP wants the tax write-off. This is affecting a lot of employees at different subsidiaries around the country.

Gotta love short-term thinking aimed solely at boosting quarterly profits...

In terms of profit share Apple dominates. Apple has something like 90% of the market in PCs $1000 and over.

Keep in mind, this is just the consumer systems.

When you look at consumer systems overall, most are either unwilling or unable to spend that much on a computer they're primarily using as a web browser. This is why more budget minded systems have sold well for years. Combine this with the current shifts in technology (web capable smartphones and tablets in particular) as well as the current economy, it will continue to drive users to options under the $1000 mark.

If you look at enterprise systems and workstations, Apple has the minority marketshare.

 

[something3153]

Mac Rumors is its own little reality.

Oh my god, I actually agree with you on something!

 

[*LTD*]

Once again you fail to look beyond consumers and i devices. HP is owning the business sector.

So what? I can't put a server in my pocket. Do consumers live on the floor of IT departments?

HP does well in the enterprise? Awesome. In that case maybe HP should stop masquerading as a consumer/hardware company and just stick to the enterprise market, and leave the consumer sphere to the leaner, meaner, hungrier competition.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A334)

No duhhhh


PS: bring back touchpad and webOS.

 

[something3153]

So what? I can't put a server in my pocket. Do consumers live on the floor of IT departments?

HP does well in the enterprise? Awesome. In that case maybe HP should stop masquerading as a consumer/hardware company and just stick to the enterprise market, and leave the consumer sphere to the leaner, meaner, hungrier competition.

What leaner, meaner, hungrier competition meets your approval besides Apple? I'd love to find someone else making an acceptable laptop. Currently, below 15", I can only find HP. I await your infinite wisdom.

 

[lkrupp]

I suppose we should expect the rebirth of the TouchPad next?

Bringing back the TouchPad at $99 might increase sales but they will lose their shirts profit-wise. Remember, nobody bought the TouchPad at the price they could make a profit on. People only bought it because they basically gave it away. Why is it so hard to understand that the TouchPad was a failure, pure and simple?