Out of Business

[danbaron]

(I don't know too much about this stuff.)

I think HP is out of the computer business.

I have a lot of bad feelings towards Apple. Now, Steve Jobs (:oops:) is gone.

How long do you think it will be before Apple says to its computer customers, "Believe us, we feel just terrible about this, but, although we made wonderful computers, we don't make 'em no more."?

[ErosOlmi]

I think HP is out of the computer business.


I strongly doubt HP is out of computer business.
HP is the first in the world in personal computers.
HP is the first in the world in servers.

Talking from a company point of view, in my company I only buy HP devices (personal computer but in particular servers) and I can tell you they are the best in terms of technology and reliability.
Also HP support for servers (called carepack) is really great.

The spin-off of personal computer division is just a strategic move. Maybe (quite sure) in future they will sell it like IBM did.
IBM understood many years ago that personal computer would be an area where valued added was reducing drastrically.

Regarding Apple, their products are great but their hype is mainly based on marketing and advertising.
That would be not bad if their sales would also based on business customers but in reality their sales is mainly based on media and consumer customers.
Business customers do not change their strategy so quicly because they have to guarantee medium/long term investments while consumer customers follows hypes so they can change opinion very quickly based on the humor of the moment. I know Apple is trying to get some important space also in business customers but so far they didn't get much.

That's technology life.
Things are changing very quickly and (in my opinion) this is good.

[danbaron]

You know more than me about this.

All I know are the headlines.

I guess the profit from making PCs, keeps shrinking.

But, after reading these articles, my impression is that HP is, "drifting", like a sailboat on the ocean with no wind - maybe it can start a brewery.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/18/technology/hp_pc_spinoff/index.htm

http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/idINIndia-58894920110822

(http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/idINIndia-58894920110822)This witch ran for U.S. senator in California.

(http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/18/h-p-spinoff-carlys-final-goodbye/?iid=EAL)http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/18/h-p-spinoff-carlys-final-goodbye/?iid=EAL

How many times do new managements come in, and destroy companies/corporations?

( Hopefully, Carepack will remain operational, at least through the 4th quarter. :twisted: )

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To me, Apple is a hologram. I could see it collapsing, but, I am biased against it.

For so long, I think Apple has marketed its products to snobs.

[ErosOlmi]

Well,

for sure companies can fail strategic decisions or success. But this is usually seen after some time (maybe years).
What we have all to learn from those periods is only one thing: never trust analysts !!!

If, for a period of (let's say) 2/3 years, you ask every day a monkey to say what will happen you will get a better and more trusted responses that the so called "analysts".
I'm quite sure that a randomized application on a long term period would perform better than an "analyst"
I think the reason is that "analysts" are mainly under some "behind the curtains umbrella" while a monkey usually say what he think.

What I want to say?
Never follow what news say in the short term, they are under the hype of the moment or (worst cases) they are telling what others tell them to tell.

[zak]

i don't like steve jobs from the moment i saw the movie "pirates of the silicon valey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflXMZL2stU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL)", he make an interview with a job applicant while he is putting his feet with shoes on the table in front of the applicant, and he ask him a very irritating questions, i can't find that part in youtube, very interesting.
the movie is a good documentation for the early beginning of apple and microsoft computers.

[danbaron]

I never believe analysts, but that doesn't mean Carly Fiorina is not a witch.

If you want to see and hear analysts who also happen to be idiots, turn on CNN.

I would feel worse if I stepped on a beetle, than if Steve Jobs dropped dead tomorrow.

[danbaron]

As far as I know, HP started out by making calculators. They used RPN. I was skeptical at first, but, RPN is better.

Later, the calculator market began to evaporate, and so did HP's interest in making calculators.

I remember, a long time ago, it made CAD plotters.

Then, it made high end PCs.

For a long time it had most of the market for laser printers, followed by ink jet printers.

As time passed, it had more and more trouble convincing consumers that its PCs were any better than less expensive ones made by competing brands.

Similarly, concerning printers.

I remember when Carly Fiorina became the CEO, HP bought Compaq, and she began offshoring HP's jobs.

I think she was forced out of the corporation.

Then, wasn't another guy forced out over allegations of sexual harassment?

I guess that for the last few years, without consciously thinking about it, it was unclear to me what HP's business consisted of.

Now, it is in the news again.

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Concerning analysts, people like to hear and read about predictions of doom. Who, besides a stockholder has any interest in hearing that a corporation's profits are going through the roof? It's similar to a soap opera, no one would watch a story about a normal functional family. The same for celebrities, and Royals - the masses are happy when those on top experience embarrassment, base human emotions, they demonstrate familial dysfunction, etc.

http://www.horsesforsources.com/hp-plotting-042011

If you read the next article, you see that you can never trust what a corporation publicly says. It will continue promoting a product, and saying that it has grand plans for it, until it suddenly announces that it is, "pulling the plug". Then, those who purchased the product because of the corporation's continuous predictions of greatness and certain success for it, are left standing there, maybe owning a device which is no longer supported, feeling angry, violated, helpless, and stupid.

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/comment/hps-webos-ambitions-were-doomed-to-fail-37341
(http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/comment/hps-webos-ambitions-were-doomed-to-fail-37341)
Maybe now, HP is implementing some brilliant strategy, but, to me, the more obvious possibility is the more likely one, it currently doesn't know what it is doing.

On the other hand, the more money a corporation has, the more and bigger mistakes it can make, while still surviving.

Whose b.s. detector doesn't activate, when he hears something like this?

“We’re looking at expanding the base and bringing to the webOS community an ecosystem that inspires developers out there,” Stephen DeWitt, HP’s senior vice president of webOS, told the Journal, while neglecting to mention any specific manufacturing partners.

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HP must know I'm talking about it.

I just saw an ad in the margin of this page.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/store_access.do?template_type=computer_store&landing=desktops&a1=Intel+processors&v1=Intel+2nd+gen+Core
(http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/store_access.do?template_type=computer_store&landing=desktops&a1=Intel+processors&v1=Intel+2nd+gen+Core)
And, here's more.

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/prodserv/servers.html

(http://h20559.www2.hp.com/portal/site/cpc?jumpid=ex_r11400_us%2Fen%2F%2FIPG%2F_ps_g_hpcarepack%2FHPCarePack&s_kwcid=TC%7C17990%7Chp+CarePack%7C%7CS%7Cp%7C6716847897&ac.admitted=1314330099499.2043657423.175170253)http://h20559.www2.hp.com/portal/site/cpc?jumpid=ex_r11400_us%2Fen%2F%2FIPG%2F_ps_g_hpcarepack%2FHPCarePack&s_kwcid=TC|17990|hp+CarePack||S|p|6716847897&
ac.admitted=1314330099499.2043657423.175170253 (http://h20559.www2.hp.com/portal/site/cpc?jumpid=ex_r11400_us%2Fen%2F%2FIPG%2F_ps_g_hpcarepack%2FHPCarePack&s_kwcid=TC%7C17990%7Chp+CarePack%7C%7CS%7Cp%7C6716847897&ac.admitted=1314330099499.2043657423.175170253)

[Petr Schreiber]

Just a tiny off topic:

As I saw Dan's note on the HP calculators - for me personally, those were the best products of HP of all time.
I got HP-42s (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp42s.htm) when I was eight and learned the programming on this device powered by 1MHz CPU :D

I used the calculator daily on elementary school, high school, university - and the features were still more rich than I needed. I still switch it on from time to time now as well.
Built in matrix calculus is very strong and the RPN is just great.

When I used the calculator daily, it still lasted 1.5 years on single set of batteries :D Todays calculator of similar capabilities hardly survive month...

Ok, end of nostalgic block, it just had to come out :D


Petr

[kryton9]

Today they announced spinning off the PC business. I wonder if it will have a new name as IBM's pc business became Lenovo. Lenovo has continued well after that change so I hope HP's does too.