As an addendum to yesterday’s revelation that HP was staying in the PC business, it sounds like webOS is on its way to an early grave. We don’t mean that the HP is going to spin it off, or re-purpose the platform for something else, we mean kill it dead and shed 500 jobs in the process. The Guardian claims to have the inside story, and the decision has already been made.
So, it’s official: HP is staying in the PC game. Way to make the right choice, Meg Whitman! But even though the company has decided to stick to the status quo and keep offering hardware for the masses, the masses are a little confused HP’s recent “WTF?” business maneuvering. Whitman’s well aware of the confusion the flip-flopping has caused. So how is HP going to win back the hearts and minds of customers? Maybe with a kick-ass Ultrabook. A company VP confirmed that one of the diminutive powerhouses is on HP’s radar sometime down the line.
Hewlett Packard went bonkers there for a short while and actually considered selling or spinning off its Personal Systems Group (PSG) so it could focus on servers, printers, and software. Fortunately for HP, newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman quickly reversed course on what could have been a disastrous heading for the world's No. 1 PC maker, So now what?
After leaving the markets hanging for a few weeks, HP has finally clarified its future plans in the PC business: it’s in. HP will not undertake the course of action began by former CEO Leo Apotheker to spin off the PC business. This marks the first major change led by new CEO Meg Whitman. Don’t get too excited; webOS is still dead (we checked).
HP seems to be rethinking its plans to get out of the consumer business with new CEO Meg Whitman at the helm. According to HP itself, it has been testing the Windows 8 developer release on the defunct HP TouchPad. This is just being done as a proof-of-concept right now, but there have even been talks of reviving the device as a Windows 8 slate.
HP's newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman already has a long list of things to do and oversee, not the least of which is to figure out what to do with the company's PC business. And then there's the whole challenge of trying to restore confidence in a company that seems to be swirling with uncertainty, not to mention the challenge of turning around HP's fortunes. If all that weren't enough, Whitman now has to forge ahead without HP's chief strategy and technology officer.
“I’m not dead!” It’s one of our favorite quotes in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” We don’t picture TouchPad owners shouting that from the rooftops, though. HP basically called the tablet (along with WebOS) dead in the water and tossed it on the shelves at $99 to clear inventory; after a fire sale like that, you can’t expect much ongoing support. But surprise, surprise! TouchPad owners aren’t quite dead to HP yet. The company has just released a WebOS update for the tablet.
Amazon did more than just throw down the gauntlet when it announced its $200 Kindle Fire tablet, the e-tailer may have also scared off some of the competition altogether. Oddly enough, the Kindle Fire might actually help Microsoft increase its presence in the mobile market, as OEMs look to Windows 8-based slates in order to avoid a price war among Android tablets.
Market research firms International Data Corp (IDC) and Gartner both report that HP still sits on top of the world as the largest PC maker, shipping more units than other computer maker in the third quarter. Given that HP is maintaining a sizable lead despite all the turmoil surrounding the company's past, present, and future, why on earth would HP go forward with plans to sever its PC business? That's a question HP itself is having trouble answering, and it now looks as though newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman wants to back off plans to spin off or sell HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG).
HP and its shareholders have much more pressing matters to attend to than digging up old skeletons and revisiting the situation that led to former CEO Mark Hurd's resignation. Or at least you would think that would be the case. Instead, the Delaware Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether to unseal a letter from an actress' lawyer that ultimately led to Hurd's departure amid allegations of sexual harassment, the Associated Press reports.
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