unlvrebels
08-19-2011, 01:28 AM
I know that this is not a HOT DEAL. I hope this information helps people planning to buy HP laptops and tablets.
Hewlett-Packard today said it plans to shut down tablet and smart-phone production and spin off its consumer PC business, The Associated Press reports. It’s a dramatic development in the tech industry. After spending more than $24 billion on Compaq in 2002, HP became the world’s largest PC maker. Though the computer division brings in the most revenue, it is the least profitable, The AP reports.
More striking is that HP plans to shutter its fledgling smartphone and tablet business just two years after spending $1.8 billion on smartphone maker Palm, which gave HP the webOS software that has been praised by critics but largely been ignored by the marketplace. It is here that HP was the victim of the Apple and Google juggernauts, as iPads and iPhones and smartphones running Google's Android software have been hot sellers, while HP devices have languished. Of course, HP is one of Microsoft’s biggest partners. But despite plans, after acquiring Palm last year, to make webOS an alternative – and, perhaps eventually, the main – operating system on PCs, tablets and phones, HP is discontinuing webOS devices and all but abandoning personal computers.
So, the question on people’s minds now – well, there are many questions, but one of them – is what will happen to the world’s largest PC business. In a statement, HP said it it plans a spin-off or “other transaction” to get rid of it. Who would try to snatch it up?
Would Microsoft be interested?
GeekWire’s Todd Bishop argues that Microsoft should buy HP’s PC division to become more like Apple and produce vertically integrated PCs and tablets. While Bishop admits even the idea would be “heresy to most people in Redmond,” he writes that it might finally be time to adopt Apple’s strategy: tightly integrating software and hardware into more elegant devices with better user experiences. He’s right: It is heresy. Though it may not be the worst idea in the world, it would be shocking – downright staggering – to hear Steve Ballmer announce such an acquisition. I’d have to break out my binoculars and look for pigs among the clouds.
Because Microsoft decided a long, long time ago to focus only on software when it comes to PCs. There has been plenty of opportunities to buy hardware makers. There has been plenty of reasons. But the reality is, today, it would be near impossible to justify buying HP’s PC business.
Microsoft would be alienating its main customers, the PC makers that buy Windows licenses and install the operating system on their computers. An acquisition would be a huge cultural shock to the software giant. And among a slew of other reasons, Microsoft would likely run into antitrust problems.
Then again, alienation is in the air these days. Google just announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, which would turn Google into a competitor for other Android smart-phone makers such as HTC, Samsung and LG.
References:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2011/08/18/report-hewlett-packard-to-spin-off-its-pc-business/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/hp-tablet-phone-pc-business_n_930743.html
http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2011/08/report-hp-to-sell-pc-business-move-toward-software-and-the-cloud.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-19/hp-s-pc-spinoff-would-reinvent-company-with-return-to-roots.html
Hewlett-Packard today said it plans to shut down tablet and smart-phone production and spin off its consumer PC business, The Associated Press reports. It’s a dramatic development in the tech industry. After spending more than $24 billion on Compaq in 2002, HP became the world’s largest PC maker. Though the computer division brings in the most revenue, it is the least profitable, The AP reports.
More striking is that HP plans to shutter its fledgling smartphone and tablet business just two years after spending $1.8 billion on smartphone maker Palm, which gave HP the webOS software that has been praised by critics but largely been ignored by the marketplace. It is here that HP was the victim of the Apple and Google juggernauts, as iPads and iPhones and smartphones running Google's Android software have been hot sellers, while HP devices have languished. Of course, HP is one of Microsoft’s biggest partners. But despite plans, after acquiring Palm last year, to make webOS an alternative – and, perhaps eventually, the main – operating system on PCs, tablets and phones, HP is discontinuing webOS devices and all but abandoning personal computers.
So, the question on people’s minds now – well, there are many questions, but one of them – is what will happen to the world’s largest PC business. In a statement, HP said it it plans a spin-off or “other transaction” to get rid of it. Who would try to snatch it up?
Would Microsoft be interested?
GeekWire’s Todd Bishop argues that Microsoft should buy HP’s PC division to become more like Apple and produce vertically integrated PCs and tablets. While Bishop admits even the idea would be “heresy to most people in Redmond,” he writes that it might finally be time to adopt Apple’s strategy: tightly integrating software and hardware into more elegant devices with better user experiences. He’s right: It is heresy. Though it may not be the worst idea in the world, it would be shocking – downright staggering – to hear Steve Ballmer announce such an acquisition. I’d have to break out my binoculars and look for pigs among the clouds.
Because Microsoft decided a long, long time ago to focus only on software when it comes to PCs. There has been plenty of opportunities to buy hardware makers. There has been plenty of reasons. But the reality is, today, it would be near impossible to justify buying HP’s PC business.
Microsoft would be alienating its main customers, the PC makers that buy Windows licenses and install the operating system on their computers. An acquisition would be a huge cultural shock to the software giant. And among a slew of other reasons, Microsoft would likely run into antitrust problems.
Then again, alienation is in the air these days. Google just announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, which would turn Google into a competitor for other Android smart-phone makers such as HTC, Samsung and LG.
References:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2011/08/18/report-hewlett-packard-to-spin-off-its-pc-business/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/hp-tablet-phone-pc-business_n_930743.html
http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2011/08/report-hp-to-sell-pc-business-move-toward-software-and-the-cloud.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-19/hp-s-pc-spinoff-would-reinvent-company-with-return-to-roots.html