The board of directors at Hewlett Packard (HP) have announced today that they plan on focusing specifically on enterprise business and sales. In order to do so, they plan to move their existing personal computer division into another separate company. In layman’s terms, HP will stop producing the much loved (and hated) personal computers that have become a staple in the American households.
So why are they doing this? HP’s products seem to be everywhere from homes, to schools, to businesses. While HP’s board of director’s didn’t cite specific reasons as to why they plan on splitting the company, it is quite apparent why they are doing so. The desktop and laptop space has become so crowded over the last few years that it has been increasingly hard to compete in the space. In order to compete against Dell, Samsung, and other computer manufacturers, HP has sold cheap computers. This business strategy didn’t allow for much profit to come from each computer sale, for HP only made about 53 dollars for every laptop they sold. The board probably thought that the personal computing division detracted too much time from their true moneymaker: enterprise. The enterprise market has little to no competition (relative to the consumer space), and HP wants to use their brand to sell to the enterprise market.
IBM did this exact decision back in 2005 when they sold their PC business to Lenovo. IBM has benefited tremendously from their decision because they were able to focus specifically on the enterprise market rather than on the consumer market.
So, what does this mean for you the next time you go to Best Buy looking for a computer? As of now, nothing, for HP has yet to split their consumer division. When the dust settles on this decision, it is likely that the only thing different about HP computers is a logo change. Choice in computers will still be available, and I doubt that this decision will have major effects on the consumer since HP’s personal computer division isn’t being shut down, but is rather being made into a different company. It is sad to see the iconic HP logo fade away from the consumer market. Hopefully the new company that comes out of this decision will still be able to make the Envy line of laptops, for this writer would hate to see that line of laptops disappear.
Source: TUAW
10/30/11 Update: HP has decided to continue manufacturing computers. Read more here.
Thank you! I have corrected my mistake
Posted by TechandFilm | August 18, 2011, 8:16 pmi’m sorry but HPs are literally the least reliable computers. their boards fail a lot. the only good ones are the business models. I hate HP because of this. their desktops are good, but any monkey can put together a desktop, while laptops are way more difficult to engineer properly.
Posted by garegin | January 15, 2012, 5:50 pmI too have NEVER had problems with any of my HP computers,desktop or laptop. However the Dell computers that my husband purchased has been nothing but trouble. He has gone thur 3 Dell computers and I am still on my HP laptop nx9030 problem free. This is a sad day for me for I am a HP fan and a Dell Hater. Just hope the company that buys them out are just as good and has just as good customer service with workers who speaks english perfect.
Posted by Tammy | April 4, 2012, 8:53 amI’ve never had one fail on me yet. Maybe its the operator?
Posted by Jeremy | February 19, 2012, 7:20 pmIn my opinion HP is the best brand for laptops and PCs. I have never had any problem with HP PCs and laptops. HP laptops are good combinations of quality and looks. This is really sad that they are selling out this branch. I hope the company which buys HP computers will have the same quality and maintain it.
Posted by Harshal | April 10, 2012, 11:43 amI used to work at an electronic retail store, in the service department, fixing computers and HP/Compaq consists of 80% of the computers I had to service. They ranged from failed HDDs to failed motherboards in either desktop or laptop computers while Sony, Fujitsu, Toshiba usually have either failed HDD, failed memory stick or OS issues and were easily remedied. HP constantly have a lot of issues with certain models or line of models and I would have to go through 3 parts til I finally got the part working in that unit and then about 4 weeks later, it would come back for the same reason. HP makes the world’s cheapest parts that would die within a month after being picked up. As a consumer, I stay away from HP as FAR as possible!
Posted by EyeHateHP | June 26, 2012, 5:35 pm