Click pic to visit the HP Computer Museum

What with low-margins and declining sales in the move to mobile devices where Apple is eating everyone’s lunch, there will probably be more of this to come.

Bloomberg reports that multiple sources are indicating that HP will spin off its PC business to focus on enterprise services. As part of that change in focus, it will be acquiring the Cambridge, UK-based data analysis company Autonomy for about $10 billion, a healthy premium over the company’s current market cap.
[…]
Although HP’s shift toward a service and consulting focus has been going on for years (we joked that it already looked a bit like IBM West a year ago), the decision to spin off its PC business is a bit of a surprise. After a rocky merger with Compaq, HP had grown to dominate global PC sales, and its purchase of Palm and WebOS had indicated it was at least trying to pursue options that could help keep it relevant as sales of compact touchscreen devices soared.

Nevertheless, the margins of the PC business have remained very narrow, and most of HP’s competition is either suffering or attempting to go upmarket (Dell being the primary example of the latter).




  1. Lou says:

    They will have trouble unloading this low margin biz. + this is not a good time to be selling anything.

  2. Uncle Patso says:

    I hope this won’t negatively affect the quality, though historically the odds aren’t good.

    Google should buy it. Android Pavilion anyone?

  3. legendinmyownmind. says:

    Eh, HP PCs were never anything to get excited about.. Ho humm, so long.

  4. Jack says:

    Loved your article regarding the US CIO Kundra. What a fraud. Probably time for another article now that he’s off to harvard to solve all thier problems. Also take a look at one of his buddies Tseronis:

    This cloud “thought leader” visionary makes numerous claims but the most interesting is that he was CTO of the depatment of education for 8 years. FOIA the CTO position for the department of ED and you’ll see he wasn’t there for 2 months. Also google him and cloud for hours of video comedy. Your tax dollars as work sir.

  5. MikeN says:

    Now how about they go back into the calculator business?

  6. ikelleigh says:

    Ugh, and I’m only in about 6 months of a AT&T contract renewal after buying an HP Veer to give it a try. It was a neat OS honestly, and I like the small form factor of the phone, but I wonder if I can trade it in for another phone before the contract is up?

  7. W.T.Effyall says:

    They should name the spinoff something catchy… like… I dunno… Compaq.

  8. foobar says:

    They are ceasing operations on the TouchPad and webOS phones. The OS is going into hibernation.

  9. foobar says:

    Monday’s headline: Facebook buys webOS.

  10. Miguel says:

    But they’ll still be selling printers… and ink cartridges, right? The margin for those must be around 72634348200% or so…

  11. Miguel says:

    I want a good HP41C XXI…

  12. bobbo, the pragmatic libertarian Existential Anti-Theist says:

    The only way to succeed in a commodity business is to be the cheapest provider or as is rarely achieved add some value.

    So what does an HP computer do that others don’t? Or-in the example of bottled water, how can the same as all the others be sexed up?

    I’ll stick with the ten dollar hookers.

  13. RuralRob says:

    “to focus on enterprise services”

    Translation:

    To focus on selling more printer ink, which (ounce-for-ounce) costs more than the Starship Enterprise.

  14. What? says:

    HP was such a great company. Scopes, calculators, calculator “computers” that included HPIB, injet and laser printers, all great stuff if not a little peculiar. I’ve owned and used a lot of stuff that was labeled HP.

    It seems that, after the founders left, the brains were ripped out of the company.

    As this American business icon slowly dies, just as DEC has already done, I have to ask – how long does IBM have, and will they continue to innovate forever?

  15. Steve S says:

    Miguel said:
    “I want a good HP41C XXI…”
    Yes. Good Luck with that. It has taken HP over 20 years just to re-issue the HP-15C…. and it is still not here yet!

  16. moss says:

    And no one else noticed this morning early – that BBY was trying to return 90% of the TouchPads they were supposed to be selling for HP – to blow the iPad doors in, eh?

  17. Lucky Pierre says:

    There was a time when HP was the tech leader and innovator of the day. That was many years ago when Hewlett and Packard ran the business. Signal generators, oscillators, oscilloscopes and other lab instruments made by HP were identified with quality and demanded a premium price when I was an engineer starting out in the ’50s and ’60s.
    The last HP product I purchased was a printer about 15 years ago which gave me all kinds of problems and poor customer service. It was then, as perhaps for many others, that I said I would never again buy an HP product. This is not the company that David Packard started!

  18. foobar says:

    HP is selling Compaq.

  19. McCullough says:

    HP was fine until they took on an anchor called Compaq. They never got it together after that. I have been Auth. Servicer for desktops, servers, notebooks and printers for over 20 years. They became an absolute nightmarish bureaucracy. So big and stupid, and almost impossible to work with.

    Even though this will hurt me financially, I say Good Riddance.

  20. deowll says:

    I wonder if HP actually exists as a maker of computers or if it, like Apple, is merely a logo stuck on something made by some other company or companies?

    Time will tell what comes of this.

  21. B. Dog says:

    They think they’re smart.

  22. foobar says:

    September 3, 2001 – HP announces Compaq merger.

    10 years +/- 10 days

  23. HP fan says:

    HP-UX unix and their HP9000 server work great.

    I never understood why they bought Compaq and got into that market.

    I think they will do well and we’ll see some great products in the future.

    Of course there is always the Solaris vs. HP-UX debate…

    I think the following is a good discussion of the differences:

    http://www.loudermilk.org/software/solaris-hpux.html”

  24. Grandpa says:

    Looks like a good buy for ACER. Lots of shelf space to sell their wares.

  25. moss says:

    $100M charge for HP to credit back resellers of the fabulous TouchPad:

    http://tinyurl.com/3dkuxbg

  26. JimD says:

    HP trying to copy IBM – out of hardware, into services. But HP doesn’t seem to have the client list that IBM had when it shifted to services ….

    Also seems the Clueless MBA’s trying and failing to run a tech company !!! And more of America’s tech infrastructure evaporates !!!

  27. tcc3 says:

    #25 pedro

    Indeed: the 48 series calc is the best ever made.

  28. foobar says:

    Yup. This whole mobility, internet, and entertainment thing is nothing. Enterprise servers are the real action. Oracle 11gR2 might be coming out soon – it just doesn’t get any sexier than that.

    I like WebOS. I hope someone good grabs it.

  29. foobar says:

    There are rumours all over the place that you’ll see HP TouchPads at Amazon, Target and HP’s site for $99 starting Saturday. If you find one at HP’s site use the coupon code “save15hp” to get an additional $15 off.

  30. foobar says:

    Here ya go: http://goo.gl/G8aF7


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