[Sinistar]

Hewlett Packard has confirmed plans to exit PCs, tablets and phones, in order to refocus on software.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14582489

Now that's a surprise.

[AlphaWolf]

they are actually intending to sell or spin off PCs and end their mobile products.

[Entropy]

Doing what IBM did, basically. Getting rid of the low margin mass market.

[rpg.314]

And the gut wrenching creative destruction continues.......

How long before others start throwing in towels as well?

[Davros]

the title says exiting computing but the quote says exiting pc's
are they keeping their alpha cpu's and server stuff going ?

[rpg.314]

I don't think anyone sells alpha anymore.

They'll be keeping the servers around.

[Malo]

Wow, that was unexpected. I thought they did fairly well as HP's are the most common laptop people to seem to buy at work.

[Grall]

Originally Posted by Entropy

Doing what IBM did, basically. Getting rid of the low margin mass market.

...Unless you happen to be Apple, of course. >_> <_<

Originally Posted by Malo

HP's are the most common laptop people to seem to buy at work.

My dad bought an AMD-powered HP lappy last year. It wasn't particularly expensive though, that model probably retails (if it's still available) at $550 or less, so I'm not sure how much profit might be squeezed out of it at the manufacturer level.

[Entropy]

Originally Posted by rpg.314

I don't think anyone sells alpha anymore.

They'll be keeping the servers around.

You may have seen the squabble between HP and Oracle, when the latter decided to stop supporting (HPs) Itanium-based servers? I spent a bit of time looking for confirmation that server hardware would continue to be developed and sold, but I found none.

HP has changed CPU-architecture a number of times through the history, so Itanium dying isn't necessarily a show stopper for them, but I wouldn't be surprised if in this case HP will simply fulfill their contractual obligations, and then phase out server hardware as well.

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by Entropy

HP has changed CPU-architecture a number of times through the history, so Itanium dying isn't necessarily a show stopper for them, but I wouldn't be surprised if in this case HP will simply fulfill their contractual obligations, and then phase out server hardware as well.

I would doubt that HP would consider getting rid of it's server business, it's still a very high margin high growth market. In fact IBM kept it's server business when it divested it PC manufacturing business to Leonovo.

[nutball]

Weird that they'd get rid of PCs/laptops and keep the printers.

[RudeCurve]

So I wonder who will buy HP/Compaq's PC business? I wish who ever buys them makes more Compaq laptops. I always liked the Compaq logo..

[Entropy]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

I would doubt that HP would consider getting rid of it's server business, it's still a very high margin high growth market. In fact IBM kept it's server business when it divested it PC manufacturing business to Leonovo.

HPs situation isn't the same as IBMs. Nor is the leadership. Apotheker's a software guy. As I said, I looked without finding anything said either way. If I were HP, if indeed they intend to keep developing server hardware, they should be careful to reassure their server hardware customers in a situation like this, rather than leaving the issue in a zone of ambiguity. On the other hand, the deal is clearly about their PC/mobile business, so you could say that their server business isn't implicated at all, pointing to an IBM like scenario, as I wrote above. Eventually, we'll see.

[Malo]

Originally Posted by nutball

Weird that they'd get rid of PCs/laptops and keep the printers.

That is quite strange, you wouldn't expect the personal laser/inkjet market to be very profitable. I guess it's like most of the printer manufacturers now, they make all their money from consumables. I assume there's also far less support costs with printers.

[Tahir2]

Printer consumables are high-margin.

I feel for WebOS - having played with the HP TouchPad for a few minutes I was thoroughly impressed. More so than with Android or iOS.

Hpefully WebOS finds a company that is willing to put the resources in to truly polish it.

[digitalwanderer]

I hated PB more than HP, but not by much. I won't miss 'em.

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by Entropy

HPs situation isn't the same as IBMs. Nor is the leadership. Apotheker's a software guy. As I said, I looked without finding anything said either way. If I were HP, if indeed they intend to keep developing server hardware, they should be careful to reassure their server hardware customers in a situation like this, rather than leaving the issue in a zone of ambiguity. On the other hand, the deal is clearly about their PC/mobile business, so you could say that their server business isn't implicated at all, pointing to an IBM like scenario, as I wrote above. Eventually, we'll see.

HP is one worldwide leaders of servers (along with IBM), that's not something you go out and "phase out".

[Entropy]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

HP is one worldwide leaders of servers (along with IBM), that's not something you go out and "phase out".

Well, they are THE world leading supplier of PC hardware, still, that's exactly the business they are divesting.
So I'd say that argument is weak. While there has been no mention of the server side of hardware, it's clear that the current leadership is quite prepared to rock the boat if justified for business reasons. The show will go on regardless - just because a business branch is spun off doesn't mean it stops existing, it just gets a new sticker on the front. At least that's true for the PCs, I'm not sure a business producing Itanium servers would be long lived. HP will do what makes sense for them financially, and if producing hardware to complement their software services makes sense for them, they'll keep doing so (and at this point there is no official word suggesting otherwise). If not, the slack will be picked up by someone else.
But you can be sure the current leadership has discussed the issue.

[ShaidarHaran]

HP is the worst of the large PC OEMs from a quality control standpoint, IMHO, as a PC technician involved in the repair of thousands of PCs over the past few years. I've seen more HPs with bad motherboards over the last 5 years than all other brands combined, by a ratio of at least 3:1 and that's not being hyperbolic. I'm glad they're gone, in a way, but I'll miss the revenue

[AlphaWolf]

Originally Posted by ShaidarHaran

HP is the worst or the large OEMs from a quality control standpoint, IMHO, as a PC technician involved in the repair of thousands of PCs over the past few years. I'm glad they're gone, in a way, but I'll miss the revenue

As was mentioned don't expect their PC business to be gone, but rather spun off. So perhaps with the Compaq name or something, but they aren't exactly closing shop.

[ShaidarHaran]

Originally Posted by AlphaWolf

As was mentioned don't expect their PC business to be gone, but rather spun off. So perhaps with the Compaq name or something, but they aren't exactly closing shop.

I'm sure it will just be spun off, too bad it won't just die altogether though - hey, the products all do, might as well kill the brand

[Blazkowicz]

times are funny when I learn at the same time that HP makes phones and is phasing them out.

Originally Posted by ShaidarHaran

HP is the worst of the large PC OEMs from a quality control standpoint, IMHO, as a PC technician involved in the repair of thousands of PCs over the past few years. I've seen more HPs with bad motherboards over the last 5 years than all other brands combined, by a ratio of at least 3:1 and that's not being hyperbolic. I'm glad they're gone, in a way, but I'll miss the revenue

but they seem to have printers that work, I'm glad I can plug in an old laserjet made in the 90s and have it just work.

as for printers, office need them and have support. if they are going to still sell switches, servers etc. they should sell the printers as well.

[Davros]

Hewlett-Packard said today that it will keep its personal systems group and that it will continue to sell PCs. (27th October)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-201...pcs-after-all/

[Sxotty]

Can someone pay me millions of dollars to not say stupid things? I could decide not to destroy a business as well.

[Lightman]

Originally Posted by Sxotty

Can someone pay me millions of dollars to not say stupid things? I could decide not to destroy a business as well.

Only privileged can do this sort of job and usually poorly at that