hp laptop

Hewlett – Packard again is to make a major move to catch up with the technological (and financial) world’s constant and brutal demands. It can be recalled that in 1999 a firm called Agilent Technologies came from a spin off of HP’s measurement operations (which by the way spearheaded the birth of the now tycoon IT company). The same tactic has been done again by HP and this time another high revenue department was targeted – PC Division.

This is undeniably a cliché from CEO Leo Apotheker’s statement earlier this year when he described their PC business as a “competitive advantage”. However, we can also infer that HP’s purchase of Autonomy Corp., a firm focusing on keeping track of corporations’ data such as phone calls and emails is what Apotheker is referring with his recent statement he pointed out the need to “invest a lot of capital….in better places”. Take into account that this newly rendered firm will actually bring in higher profit for the company compared to its PC division. In addition to the rumored PC business spin-off, HP tablet and smartphones that were to rival or even surpass Apple’s offerings will be discontinued. I think this will be the end of the WebOS (i hope not).

It has been a surprise among the industry that HP is removing their PC Division from the lineup but will still continue to support and make servers, network and data-storage systems. If I were a consumer I would most probably prefer to purchase a PC brand where I can get all my hardware and that the same time enjoy technical support. Yes, it doesn’t make sense to put in line the back up with nothing tangible fronting it. But then, hypothesizing from known facts like HP’s subtle financial decline in the stock market, this might boost them unto higher ground. After all, other divisions also cave in high revenues. For instance, their tech-services team brought them roughly $9 billion last quarter. And let’s put into consideration that the company is the world’s largest printer manufacturer; getting the most amount of profit from their expensive ink.

Of course, HP’s course of action can be compared to IBM outsourcing their PC Industry to Lenovo back in 2004. Due to its depreciating profit margin IBM chose to take advantage of Lenovo’s lacking managerial skills in running a multinational PC business and maintained several management teams even after the merger. The move turned out to be beneficial for both parties apparently. IBM gained more profit and Lenovo, which came from a name only the techies of all techies know, to a household name. This may not apply to HP though. What HP needs to survive this time is to think clearly on what to would make their business survive without selling or spinning off their PC department. If Bill and Dave would still be alive they would find a way to innovate technologically and not do a maneuver that would compromise the interests of their loyal clients even if that would bring more profit to the company. They need to make new things that would captivate the interest of the people, after all HP’s goal is to “invent”!

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