HP ready to shaft corporate resellers in death wish move

SOURCES TELL the INQUIRER that HP is messing with its reseller terms and conditions (Ts&Cs) again.

The Old HP was notorious for changing its Ts&Cs almost as often as you need to replace ink in a busy Inkjet, and now it seems the habit has survived the consummation of the union between Capellas and Carly.

The sources tell us that as part of HP's global vision of innovation in the channel, it will impose a 10 percent profit cap on reseller deals.

For example, if HP were ever to find out that a reseller got more than 10 per cent gross profit on the sale of anything from a ProLiant to a GS-Series Marvel, it wants the extra money back.

And it gets the money back too, we learn. Said one reseller to the INQUIRER: "This is a real disincentive to bend over backwards to sell HP kit, especially on these deals that involve long sales cycles. "

But it's an ill wind that blows no-one any good, every cloud has a silver lining and beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, as Benjamin Franklin said.

IBM and Sun are cockahoop over the HP gaffe because they're not going to impose the ridiculous condition if HP resellers decide to sell more of their kit instead.

And that means that in some geographies HP resellers are dumping Carly and Capellas in spades.

Said the reseller: "It appears that Doc Kevorkian is really running the show at HP. Perhaps it's Doc Kevorkian in a Carly Fiorina mask, but HP is telling its business partners loud and clear that the firm has a death wish. The powers that be at HP clearly are not members of the Wide Awake Club." µ