Weekend Open Forum: A PC industry without HP

[Jos]

HP shocked the technology world this week when it announced that it is considering the spin-off or sale of its personal computer business, and is also dropping its operations for webOS devices -- which they acquired just sixteen months ago for $1.2 billion. Instead, the company will be focusing its efforts on more profitable endeavors such as selling enterprise products and services.

HP is and has been for a few years the largest PC maker in the world, so its potential exit from the market certainly is surprising, but it also serves as an indication of how much of a commodity the personal computer has become. No matter what brand you look at the hardware inside modern PCs is nearly the same, and with mainstream systems powerful enough for most users it's getting harder for PC makers to squeeze bigger profits by selling high-end machines.

With that in mind we want to ask you: would it really matter to see HP go when you can get pretty much the same from Dell, Lenovo and others? Will brand be a major factor on your next laptop purchase or will you focus more on bang for the buck and form factor? And going back to tablets and smartphones, what do you think HP should do with webOS?

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/45167-weekend-open-forum-a-pc-industry-without-hp.html

 

[Archean]

In my last two notebook upgrade cycles I have gone for an HP, so it is bit disappointing to see them exit the market in such a hasty manner. I think this will damage the brand, so I wouldn't be surprised if in next few quarters sales of HP PCs/Notebooks go down, which may even result in difficulty for HP to sell PSG at a reasonable price.

On webOS it wasn't half bad as one may think and they simply didn't seem to have the stomach to stay in the fight for a longer period of time. HP now (probably) wants to get into just software side of the things, as their acquisition of British firm Autonomy indicates. However, I doubt it that they have what it takes to do an IBM.

 

[captaincranky]

Well, it mostly wouldn't much matter to anyone frequenting this type of website. Branded desktops are most likely in the minority. As far as customers who do buy branded product, IMO they don't understand the significance of a brand name other than what they're told by the salesperson. After all, "Coby" is brand name. Of course, it's probably some obscure Asian language's word for "garbage".

I hope HP doesn't pull out of the monitor business. The last monitor I bought was an HP 24" IPS and it kicks a**. HP and Dell do seen to crop up in business settings quite a bit.

IOn webOS it wasn't half bad as one may think and they simply didn't seem to have the stomach to stay in the fight for a longer period of time. HP now wants to be get into software side of the things, as their acquisition of British firm Autonomy. But I doubt it that they have what it takes to do an IBM.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't an operating system "software"?

 

[hitech0101]

Never cared for branded desktops but less competition means more crap comes out.

 

[Julio Franco]

@captaincranky: Well, HP said they are not selling smartphones or tablets anymore, but that webOS will live through licensing... the question then becomes whether someone will pick it up with nobody else backing up the ecosystem.

PS: HP TouchPad fire sale this weekend, 16GB model for $99.

 

[Cota]

Has a technician that fixes them just so mouthbrethers screw it again, most of their laptops and desktops are kind of nice actually, they aren't that hi end tech and neither that obsolete which is good for the "normal" user who only does light and medium light tasks.

And as far webOS goes, being different is not always the way to go, or in one word "Incompatibility"

 

[Archean]

It is, but I think they simply caved in too easily. That is why I said that they are not IBM. I am not sure others will want to have webOS licensed if they don't see any solid future development plans for it.

 

[Route44]

Just a financial aside here: As of Friday HP has lost 40% value on the stock exchange. An overall Bear Market is a loss of 20%; several companies are well beyond the 20%.

I'd be tempted on that TouchPad but if something goes wrong...

 

[captaincranky]

@captaincranky: Well, HP said they are not selling smartphones or tablets anymore, but that webOS will live through licensing... the question then becomes whether someone will pick it up with nobody else backing up the ecosystem.

When you consider web OS in the context of this topic: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic169491.html you have to wonder if the existence of potential licensees, are an extension of the HP corporate marketing expert's fantasy world also.

This could wind up being "group think" elevated to the level of delusionality.

I'd be tempted on that TouchPad but if something goes wrong...

Reasonably speaking, $99.95 makes it a throw away. Of course you do have to cross your fingers that that will happen later, as opposed to sooner.

 

[Wendig0]

Hell for $99 for the 16gb, or $149 for the 32gb I might even buy one. Too bad they seem to be sold out (at HP's site).

 

[free4rm]

Never cared much for HP products being on the builder side of computers, poor design and architecture when it has come to reliability. HP has had huge contracts with different levels of governments which actually keeps me busy in my line of work as a city employee when it comes to troubleshooting their products.

 

[Archean]

When you consider web OS in the context of this topic: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic169491.html you have to wonder if the existence of potential licensees, are an extension of the HP corporate marketing expert's fantasy world also.

I think we also need to figure in the Oracle-Google court case, from what I’ve read on this matter, the technical/legal point of view is that Google will suffer a massive defeat in courts. Forcing them to rethink and make drastic changes to Android code. Add to this the possibility of royalty payments. I suspect if things get any worse, Android could stop being ‘free’ (e.g. Google may hand out licenses for each Android release in exchange for fee).

That is one of the reasons I said that HP simply caved in too quickly.

@free
Not sure what the heck you are talking about, consumer oriented desktops/notebooks aside, their business oriented products has been rock solid, in fact a PIII based server machine we bought back in late 90s is still working flawlessly; and I am not going to talk about printers and other stuff from roughly same period which is still working without any issues.

 

[gwailo247]

I think they should have held out longer with WebOS. Practically every company's first tablet had issues of one type or another.

I felt that if they had incorporated WebOS into their desktops as a secondary OS, and licensed it out, they would have had more people at least playing with it. And if they somehow managed to have it run while Windows loaded in the background, then you might get people using webOS for a minute or two, and that time period may get longer, etc.

Overall though its a shame to see an American company get out of the business.

 

[Ssendi]

The WebOs was working okay the way i used it though am an addict of Ubuntu now!!! @ Gwailo " felt that if they had incorporated WebOS into their desktops as a secondary OS, and licensed it out, they would have had more people at least playing with it." They had done that especially with the new Pavilions I had seen just before the Windows Startup, the Wbos would pop up!!!

Marketing was then problem maybe, I think it would have been an open source OS may be pple would have adopted it slowly!!!

when buying a machine a BRAND name plays an important role, HP has always been my favorite in laptops and Dell does beta in desktops!!! HP please try to find means of staying in biz!!!!

 

[spikester48661]

brand name pc all suck make it youself.and the webOS suck too.

 

[Guest]

All branded desktops are garbage. Hell, the only thing HP has ever done right was printers, and they've even had problems with those at times. I've only continued to use them because no other vendor even comes close.

 

[Xclusiveitalian]

I dont understand why Hp leading the world in pc sales would give up, it makes no sense...They know something we don't know!

 

[fpsgamerJR62]

I build my own PCs so I seldom take note of branded desktops. I also have an Compaq laptop that's more than 5 years, slow and old with a tilted keyboard and defective hinge, but it stills boots up everyday. I'm glad that HP is keeping their printer business. I have a 9-year old 930C inkjet printer that's still works although its ink cartridges have become really scarce in recent months.

 

[Archean]

I dont understand why Hp leading the world in pc sales would give up, it makes no sense...They know something we don't know!

Because IMO they seems to be rattled atm, and they are taking the same death road which Sun took, to its ultimate demise. Only difference is that HP is in much better financial shape than Sun was.

I am not sure how buying an enterprise search firm can help HP transform into a software solution provider in near future, real money lies e.g. in ERP when it comes to software. Just to back this up Oracle made more money simply providing maintenance + license renewals etc. than selling solutions to new customers during the last year, and the biggest of them all in this business SAP is well ahead of Oracle.

 

[slh28]

HP's current software revenue only makes up 2% of its total revenue, it will have to make more massive acquisitions to get to where IBM were when they gave up their PC business.
Also IBM were struggling when they transformed themselves, but HP have a market leading position so don't really understand the logic here. Neither does the market... their stock was down 20% yesterday.

 

[Guest]

It seems their new leadership is lost, has no stomach for a fight and only cares about making his quota so he can collect his bonus and then leave the company in a shambles. The PC industry including tablets, cell phones, desktops and laptops is a tough business not for the weak. You better have a good game plan and a game face to match.

Good luck HP.

 

[Guest]

Big business has become obsessed with profit margins.
It is not enough to have large market share and make money.

I'm a retired DEC-Compaq-HP employee.
It was easy to see after HP bought Compaq, that HP was NOT the company that Hewlett and Packard built. It was just a big corporation, with a board and CEO that had no passion for
the Tech industry.

This obsession with being IBM will lead HP to become a small player.

They had all the pieces--Tandem fault tolerant, Proliant servers, HP-UX, Compaq PC business, printers, Storage, networking.
Instead of being IBM they should have been a unique multi faceted tech giant.
The board and CEO have blown it.

 

[Mizzou]

This is all that is left of the HP Touchpad on the Best Buy site, amazing how quickly this happened.

Best Buy's HP TouchPad Return and Price Match Policies

What should I do if I purchased the HP TouchPad outside of the 14-day return policy and would like to return it?

Best Buy is extending its return/exchange policy on the HP TouchPad and all HP TouchPad accessories to 60 days. Come into a Best Buy store and we will help you find another tablet to fit your needs or issue you a refund.

Does the Best Buy Price Match policy still apply if I see the HP TouchPad discounted at another retailer?

No. As of August 19, 2011, the HP TouchPad is on clearance and we will no longer be selling the units so we will not offer any price matches. As mentioned above, we will still be offering an extended return/exchange policy.

 

[okrings]

I've been asked to fix or upgrade a lot of computers in my time. I hate nothing more than coming into a friend's house (or a friend of a friend etc.) to find a HP, Dell or some other equivalent factory-built ****-container waiting for me. They're always filled to the brim with the weirdest components, weak powersupplies, crap cooling solutions, sub-standard memory chips and alien motherboards. Sometimes the worst part was just finding a way to open the case. People want to upgrade their PC, and they have no idea what type of motherboard they have or anything. Then I have to break the sad news to them. "You can't upgrade. No, sorry, can't be done. Buy a new computer and drown your old one in the bathtub!" That's what you get for buying a "computer" from HP and it's kind. So what do I think about the death of HP computers? I'm exuberant to the point of orgasm to see them going away!

 

[supertech]

I've recommended HP units to many of our customers as they are generally very good units for the average user and very well priced. It's too bad that they are jumping out of the consumer PC market game but it was inevitable; that part of their business was hurting as there is little or no margin in a lot of these units.

About their WebOS tablet, it was absolute junk. I wouldn't even buy the unit for $50 as it is completely useless. In the mobile market, it's all about the OS, features, and Apps and they were starting from scratch in this market with the big boys like Google & Apple already established.