HP Surrenders the Mobile lineup....

KingIsaacLinksr · August 18, 2011, 11:43:28 PM

This was the most surprising bit of tech news to come out today.

http://rcpmag.com/articles/2011/08/19/hp-considers-spinning-off-pc-business-kills-webos.aspx <---just one of many similar articles.
tl;dr: HP is killing off its mobile devices after the failure of HP Touchpad's sales and is considering dropping its PC business out the nearest airlock soon.

Tbh, I'm a bit flabbergasted by it all. I can understand after the failure of the TouchPad that they might want to rethink their strategy, but simply kill it after all that $$ and time?....ok. And then to consider dropping their popular laptop/PC machines as well? Alrighty....that's unfortunate, because it means I'm running out of manufacturers to suggest to other people to buy from. While I have not had an HP laptop, I know quite a few who did and have been generally happy with them, so this is...surprising.

King

Dangelus · August 18, 2011, 11:49:07 PM

Yep pretty shocking.

I follow a couple of people who've recently bought a touch pad and they're not impressed to say the least! :(

KingIsaacLinksr · August 18, 2011, 11:51:15 PM

Quote from: Dangelus on August 18, 2011, 11:49:07 PM
Yep pretty shocking.

I follow a couple of people who've recently bought a touch pad and they're not impressed to say the least! :(

I wouldn't either! Never got the feeling that HP would pull out this early. You know, after buying Palm and putting so much R&D into their stuff, to just pull out now? Wow....But if HP does...makes me wonder about all the other non-iPad variants and their futures...

Safe to say, that the tablet market isn't like the mobile phone market, its a different kind of beast altogether.

King

X · August 18, 2011, 11:54:04 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-19/hp-s-pc-spinoff-would-reinvent-company-with-return-to-roots.html

X · August 18, 2011, 11:55:14 PM

HP has been looking for a reason for a while to get out of the PC business. Not many surprises here.

KingIsaacLinksr · August 18, 2011, 11:56:24 PM

Tragic, they haven't been half bad at it either....I guess Dell and the rest will be leaned on more then.

King

X · August 18, 2011, 11:58:50 PM

Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on August 18, 2011, 11:56:24 PM
Tragic, they haven't been half bad at it either....I guess Dell and the rest will be leaned on more then.

King

There's just not much money there anymore, the margins are low and it's cheaper to pawn the work off on overseas factories.

Rico · August 19, 2011, 04:55:23 AM

Unless you are huge player with big buying power, the PC market doesn't make you much money these days profit-wise. Heck, just build your own PC! Much more fun that way too. As far as mobile and tablets, well that one is pretty obvious.

billybob476 · August 19, 2011, 04:59:42 AM

HP is trying to go the way of IBM, providing consulting services and large enterprise hardware. I imagine margins are a bit better on 25,000 dollar servers then on 400 dollar PCs.

Bryancd · August 19, 2011, 05:18:32 AM

Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on August 18, 2011, 11:43:28 PM
Tbh, I'm a bit flabbergasted by it all.

I'm not. I have said all along that it was going to be next ti impossible for any company to take any meaningful market share from the iPad and as has been pointed out, the low end of the PC market is dead. Dell's recent earning speak clearly to that. Yet the high end PC market, with higher margins and lower volume, has held up., see the Mac desktop and laptop lineup. Joe is spot on, this is the IBM model and it's a good move long term but for now HP is going to be flundering trying to go in a new direction.

KingIsaacLinksr · August 19, 2011, 08:42:08 AM

Quote from: Bryancd on August 19, 2011, 05:18:32 AM
Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on August 18, 2011, 11:43:28 PM
Tbh, I'm a bit flabbergasted by it all.

I'm not. I have said all along that it was going to be next ti impossible for any company to take any meaningful market share from the iPad and as has been pointed out, the low end of the PC market is dead. Dell's recent earning speak clearly to that. Yet the high end PC market, with higher margins and lower volume, has held up., see the Mac desktop and laptop lineup. Joe is spot on, this is the IBM model and it's a good move long term but for now HP is going to be flundering trying to go in a new direction.

Well, the iPad VS Touchpad I wasn't too surprised, it was the PCs being thrown away that took me off guard. Although as I said, didn't expect them to just throw their mobile stuff within a couple months....

Oh well. *shrugs*

King

Rico · August 19, 2011, 09:20:49 AM

Keep in mind that the story just says they are "considering" dropping their line of PC's - at least at this time.

Bryancd · August 19, 2011, 11:13:20 AM

Quote from: Rico on August 19, 2011, 09:20:49 AM
Keep in mind that the story just says they are "considering" dropping their line of PC's - at least at this time.

No they are going to spin off the PC business in a seperate company as opposed to just stopping all together. It removes that liability from HP's balance sheet.

MARKO · August 19, 2011, 12:35:49 PM

I have contracts with HP and my contacts there tell me that business will continue as usual well for now...... i sure hope so, i just purchased over 730 off lease Laptop from them today. Its funny but in my personnel life i have been a stock holder and use 100% Apple since 94 not a fan of PC's at all.

Marko

billybob476 · August 19, 2011, 12:39:29 PM

Quote from: MARKO on August 19, 2011, 12:35:49 PM
I have contracts with HP and my contacts there tell me that business will continue as usual well for now...... i sure hope so, i just purchased over 730 off lease Laptop from them today. Its funny but in my personnel life i have been a stock holder and use 100% Apple since 94 not a fan of PC's at all.

Marko

Most likely your contracts would be taken over by whoever they end up selling to.