HP leaving mobile market

Dinesh said:

With Honeycomb and iOS increasing demand, HP had no choice but to kill webOS.

And when Windows8 is out, the cards will be dealt again.

HP announced major changes to its business plan, including, but not limited to, the spin-off of its PC business, the goal being to move the company into a position where it might draw greater value and margins.

One would think that the sudden appearance of the HP TouchPad with 64 GB of storage space would herald further tablet efforts on HP's part.

Apparently, just hours after the product was spotted online, HP issued a press release in which, among other things, it announced that it was axing all webOS projects.

This is just a part of its restructuring intentions, as there is a decision that one might say is even more major.

Basically, the company has decided to spin off its Personal Systems Group (PSG), meaning that HP's PC business will become a separate business.

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Microsoft Stresses HP Still Strategic Partner

Microsoft has never indicated even the faintest possibility of losing faith in the PC ecosystem, and the company is not budging even after the no.1 PC OEM worldwide, HP, announced that it’s considering alternatives for its Personal Systems Group.

HP said that it is looking to spin-off its PC business, either fully or at least partially, but it’s ready to explore additional alternatives, such as selling the group altogether.

The OEM giant has yet to settle on a specific strategy for PSG, but just the announcement caused the company’s shares to plunge by over 20% to as low as $23.6, reducing HP’s market cap by $12 billion.

Whether Microsoft likes it or not, the repercussions created by the evolution of HP’s PC business will also impact Windows, since the two are intimately connected. The lion’s share of Windows Division’s revenue comes from copies of the platform preinstalled on new OEM machines.

PSG sold the largest volume of consumer and commercial PCs the past fiscal year, the vast majority of which of them preinstalled with Windows, generating revenue of $14 billion in FY2010.

HP's $99 TouchPad Tablet Selling out in Retailer Fire Sale

TouchPads, $99 for 16GB of storage, and $150 for 32GB of storage.
A TouchPad model with 16GB of storage was originally $499, and a 32GB model was $599.

Looks they are sold out at most places.

This seems like the right price point for what you get.

HP is really reeling. First Oracle wont support future Itantic chips that HP uses in its servers and now they want to get out of the PC business. The PC business will probably survive as a standalone part of HP but I suspect someone will buy it out if the price is right. IBM sold their PC business to Lenovo and they are still around. The world will buy a certain number of PC's and the name plate doesn't really mater.

Jim

HP’s decision to scrap the first, and perhaps only product resulting from its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm was by far one of the most unexpected news stories we’ve seen in years. But just when we thought things couldn’t get any stranger, HP announced it was shopping for a buyer for their PC division as well, a move that would take the company in a radically different direction going forward. As the number one OEM PC manufacturer in the world this came as a bit of a shock to everyone, that is unless your number two. For Michael Dell the HP announcement represents a huge opportunity to grab market share, and the charismatic CEO wasted little time going after HP over twitter.

Read more at: Maximum PC | Dell Attacks HP's Commitment To The PC Market

It looks like they are modelling their moves after the IBM model. But HP is not IBM - they do not have the same clout. It will be interesting to watch this experiment to evolve.

It is certain that the margins in the PC business are very slim. The best margins in that arena is with printer cartridges - and those make a hefty profit. But which route will the printers go if there are no more PCs.

SAN FRANCISCO — Leo Apotheker's credibility as a CEO is falling along with Hewlett-Packard's stock price.

Apotheker, who gained a reputation for sharp business acumen when he headed up SAP, thoroughly flummoxed HP shareholders last week with what some analysts have called a "value destroying" $11.7 billion deal to buy British software maker Autonomy and for sticking a for-sale sign on HP's PC division — thus scaring off clients for the year or so it will take to decide on the division's future.

In a resounding rejection of Apotheker's grand vision, shareholders sent HP shares down almost 20 percent on Friday, wiping out $16 billion of value in the worst single-day fall since the Black Monday stock market crash of October 1987

Investors are not happy with HP's big moves - Business - US business - msnbc.com