The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason - Thomas Paine
|
|
|
After Touchpads, WebOS, PC spin offs and a new CEO, what’s next for HP?
MAKER OF EXPENSIVE PRINTER INK HP's CEO Léo Apotheker's departure from HP was more a matter of when than if, but what might be next for the giant IT company is now up in the air.
Apokether's exit comes amid growing concern over HP's future. Apokether is HP's third CEO in two years, after Mark Hurd resigned in August 2010 and was replaced by interim CEO Cathie Lesjak.
Arguably, it was Apokether that really dragged HP down, leaving behind a legacy that saw HP's share price drop 45 per cent this year.
Apokether oversaw seemingly haphazard corporate strategy setting and executive messaging at HP that culminated in an announcement that the firm would sell or spin off its PC business and saw its Touchpad tablets selling for less than £100.
On one hand, selling WebOS Touchpads at fire sale prices gave HP a boost in sales, but on the other hand, that lost the company hundreds of millions of pounds.
HP appears to have also lost its opportunity to expand in mobile markets, too. After buying Palm last year for £1.2bn for its WebOS, the company then decided to dump the operating system used in its Touchpad, a decision that saw its Pre smartphones going down the drain too.
Worse still, HP is facing a class action lawsuit filed by Robbins Geller Rudman and Down alleging that Apotheker and CFO Cathie Lesjak misled investors before making its allegedly ill-advised announcements.
Ideally, HP needs a time machine to take it back to two months ago, before these odd strategy decisions were made. Since this isn't going to happen, incoming CEO Meg Whitman will have to put her hand to disaster management.
Whitman is the opposite of the relatively unknown Apotheker, as she has what might be called star quality, having run for California governor. Not that "celebrity" Carly Fiorina's run as CEO, from 1999 to 2005, ended well.
And Whitman might not be back pedaling on HP's strategy. In fact, she said after her appointment that the firm's strategy would not change despite Apotheker's departure. Then she said that she would be reassessing some of the major changes announced in August. Sound familiar?
"It does not signal a change in the strategy," Whitman said, according to Business Week. "We are behind the actions that were taken on 18 August. We are firmly committed to Autonomy."
"But since I am now CEO, I will review a number of the strategic initiatives, and I will obviously surface with my point of view on this," she also said, according to The Financial Times.
If back pedaling isn't an option, she might have to spin off HP's PC business, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. HP has strong services and consulting businesses around its other hardware and software products and its partners' products.
And perhaps it's not a bad idea to get out of the PC business, with margins that are woeful and a future that is widely accepted to be in decline. Spinning it off would be a good way of putting a buffer on HP.
Whatever HP decides, it needs to decide it soon and it needs to execute it with conviction. If all else fails, we hear that cut price Touchpads sell quite nicely. µ
Share this:
Share
When even the world’s largest PC maker isn’t making an attractive profit on the business, that shows you how sick the whole PC market it. It’s been controlled too tightly for too long by Intel and Microsoft: they make nice, fat profits on their links in the chain, while everybody else has to be content with crumbs.
This is not healthy for innovation. Which is why there’s been so little of it in the PC business lately. So the innovation has gone elsewhere—to the ultramobile devices (smart phones, tablets etc) where Intel and Microsoft have no control. And where they are scrambling feverishly to find some relevance.
I bought an HP Pre3 phone for which I paid £49.99. It is an amazing piece of kit. Fast with a large screen, sturdy keyboard etc etc. What on earth motivated HP to forclose on their future? Along with tablets, mobile communication IS the future. Say good night Gracie!
BRING BACK THE TOUCHPAD. DOES SHE DARE?
THERE ARE A LOT OF FRESH NEW HP CUSTOMERS THAT WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT, AND WE ALL KNOW THOSE KRAPPY LITTLE KOMPUTERS ARENT WORTH MORE THAN ABOUT $99 ANYWAY. IT WOULD BE GUTSY AND WOULD ROCK THE NEWS, WHICH MEANS ABUNDANT FREE ADVERTISING. PLUS, IT WOULD REALLY MAKE APOTHEKAR LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
IS MEGGY LARGE AND IN CHARGE? UNFORTUNATELY, I DOUBT IT.
Good Idea- Reassess the decisions made by failed former CEO Apotheker.
Bad Idea- Spin off the PC Business.
Why spin off the PC business when you are the leader in PC's? That was Apotheker's idea and apparently, Apotheker didn't know what he was doing. HP also has an opportunity to use WebOS to drive a wedge ween some Android OEM's and Google and come to lead in mobile as well as PC's. IF Whitman knows what she's doing, she'll re-think that carefully. If not, at least she'll get a Golden Parachute when she leaves HP, which doesn't help customers or the industry at all.