Be Excellent To Each Other

http://kliv.com/Big-Changes-At-HP-On-An ... r/10671314


PALO ALTO -- The news came one-after-the-other for Hewlett-Packard.
On the day it set to announce third quarter earnings, Display Search posted Apple had surpassed HP in the last quarter to become the leading manufacturer in sales of mobile devices.
Apple shipped more than 13.5 million units versus HP moving just 9.7 million.
Almost immediately rumors spread HP was getting out of the personal computer business by spinning off the division altogether and halting the production of its HP TouchPad tablets and HP and Palm mobile phones.
HP's foray into the tablet market has been called a flop as the company cut prices and still couldn't make a dent in vast unsold stockpiles.
Then word from over seas said the company was in talks to purchase British software company Autonomy for an estimated $10.24-billion. Autonomy is the U.K.’s second-largest software maker.
The leaks about HP's enormous focus shift prompted the company to move up its earnings announcement by one hour. The numbers were short of analysts expectations. The Palo Alto based firm reported third quarter revenue of 93-cents-a-share--up from 79-cents the year before--but far below Wall Street's expectation of profits of a dollar-ten-cents-a-share. Quarterly revenue was little changed from a year before at 31 point 2 billion dollars.
By the afternoon Reuters reported HP was offering $42.11 for all outstanding shares of Autonomy. The addition of Autonomy is said to accelerate HP's ability to deliver on its strategy to offer cloud-based solutions and software for businesses.
Hewlett-Packard is the biggest maker of PCs and printers. But recently the company has sought to transform itself to focus more on technology services, much as IBM did a decade ago. Though PCs are HP's biggest revenue generator, it's the least profitable of the company's major divisions.

Not surprised.

The PC part was a mild surprise...

McDonald's to stop making burgers.

What has that got to do with anything?

What else are they going to do? I thought that was all they made?

Oh dear, I must be unemployed then.

I have to admit to being surprised when I heard this news, as the hardware business is the most publicly visible of everything they do. But then I worked for Lexmark Global Services for just over 4 years and saw that go from being a tiny department to one of the biggest parts of the whole business. Technology services is a big deal these days, lots and lots of money in it.

Won't mention:-
Servers / Blades
Printers
Service Industry

Er - 9.7million what? Who the fuck bought 9.7 million HP mobile devices?!

They gave them to their staff

*Look at Pre 2 on Desk*

I like their sauces

Sauce.

...

Sorry Z, DavPaz already did that joke. Want to try again with bringing the funny?

No, he's ruined it now.

Laptops, I'm guessing. The numbers guys still have no idea how to class the iPad. Some have just bundled all tablets into PC numbers, while others now tot up 'mobile' devices by combining tablet and PC sales. Others separate out tablet sales, which has Apple >>>>>>> everyone else (not least when you talk about sales rather than units shipped).

Personally, I'm disappointed HP's done this. It was well-placed to do something great, but it's caved after naff-all time, pretty much killing stone dead the second-best tablet platform in the process.

They should move into the hobby market. I heard HP love craft.

they should make Laptops, I have one on my desk, it is really good.

Also, does this mean their exisitng stock will be going cheap?

Looks like they'll sell to some one or spin the hardware part off as another company.

Now that's putting a brave face on it.

And kudos Daz - you got there in the end.

I hear that HP also make sauces that are quite nice.

Ebay is full of sealed Touchpads starting from £160 delivered (from USA/Canada sellers).

They were dumping the 16gb one at $99 at best buy. No sign of reductions like that in the uk yet.

I'd probably jump at the chance of getting one for under £100.

Me too. I already have an iPad but a decent sized media player and browser would be hard to resist

The HP CEO was previously a big shot at SAP, so I guess he thinks that software and services are the way forward.

Not sure why he would get rid of the PC business though, it’s the biggest seller of PC’s ,

There are a few people saying that the day of the PC is over, not sure I agree, we are a long way off tablets for everyone at work.

Ironically I’ve just bought £500,000 worth of HP computers for a desktop refresh at work

But it's where they make the least of their money, and it's a shrinking market. Maybe a bit premature, but it's probably a wise choice in the long run.

Probably the usual way that "business" looks at things.

"Have we got a monopoly?"
"No."
"Are we likely to get a monopoly?"
"No."
"Sell it all."
"But we're doing well and making profit!"
"You're fired."

Fucking hell. The HP site in America has them for $99/$149, but the HP site in the UK still has the old prices. Basts.

People are already working on porting android to the touchpad.

Apparently there is a Samsung tablet on the way that uses the exact same processor, so it should be possible to port that rom to it.

Edit: and you might want to be around tomorrow morning if you you want to pick up one of these cheap in the UK.

There's rather more to it than that, and in any event, my (admittedly second hand) understanding is that Palm OS is arguably a superior tablet OS to Android. Although the app store is far more restricted.

be around where? The back of the HP factory?

Well I was going to post in the thread as soon as the cheap ones come up ;D

$99 on Amazon US now, sadly they will only ship them to USA addresses.

It might be worth doing a "reserve and collect" at your local Currys or PC World. They still show at the old prices now, but if (when?) then do drop you have one set aside.

Are they bigger than Dell? That's quite a surprise.

The 32 has gone from £305 to £399 now.

Why are the idiots buying them so early? Ruining it for the rest of us.

Reports I've heard peg the sale as starting at/from 9am. We'll see.

On amazon?

I think it will be on "the internet", but I heard Best Buy's website.

Edit: as in I reckon all sites selling them will be clearing them out, but I heard that specifically that best buy will be doing them for cheap.

I am disappoint in the lack of cheap touchpads.

They were also cleared out at $98 in Australia, so I expect it's a matter of when rather than if they get sold cheap, though I wouldn't be surprised if they end up at £149 in the UK.

At that price I'd definitely pass, but if it's under £100 I'd be quite tempted to give one a go.

It is right now, but assuming no-one picks it up, it'll never get any better, and the app store is effectively dead. And at what point does the app store get turned off?

Which make bugger-all profit and are slowly getting hammered by tablets. HP's revenue for PCs wasn't bad, but the amount of profit wasn't (relatively speaking) high, and it's on a hiding to nothing for the future. The incoming CEO is also a services guy, and in hindsight it's clear he only gave the TouchPad a one-hit chance because it was already done.


I think the PC's era as a default is done. That's the point Steve Jobs has been banging on about for 18 months: PCs aren't going anywhere, but they will become increasingly niche as the general public realises it doesn't need some expandable tower for checking email, pissing about online and playing Angry Birds. For gamers, 3D artists and so on, PCs (or Macs) will remain, but for heavy lifting or legacy tasks, and only until other form factors can take over.


Quite. I think if someone wants a decent tablet web browser, a cheapo TouchPad is certainly worth $99; if not, it's a waste of $99 that you could put towards [delete as applicable] sweets/your holiday/next month's rent.

For sure. For £99 i'm after one to give to Mrs T, so that she can laze on the sofa and go on facebook, or put a couple of films on when she goes on the train.

Currently she uses my ipad for the sofa browsing, so i'd be paying £99 to get my ipad back

Hmm. In the consumer space, yes. In the business world, I think the day of the tablet as a default device is still a long way off.

It's my job to find a way to put iPads in the hands of staff, and it's bloody difficult right now. The OS is close to having the features you need, but Apple themselves are totally not geared up for it.

Send me one!

We're looking at trialling different tablets with our field staff (they currently use their home PCs for their odd bit of admin they do) but I think we've already ruled out the iPad, partly due to cost, but I think also because we'd want a Windows-based thing.