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Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

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Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#41

Post by sudowhodoido »

nandhp wrote: post #38
walterbell wrote: post #2

Which division gets the memristors?

Which division gets the calculators? I learned about the HP-12C today, which appears to be the TI-83 of finance: "The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction in 1981" ... "In 2008, HP modified the design so that new production runs contain an ARM processor which runs an emulated version of previous chips." http://www.hp.com/calculators/ http://store.hp.com/webap…

Horrible calculators despite a major following. I wouldn't buy too much into the HP calculator love.

I myself was a follower and had an HP 50G (Nice 205MHz ARM RPL machine, successor of the HP48 series). Was totally unusable without the manual which was in PDF format only so I'd have to sit at the computer anyway. I couldn't print it out because the three volumes were ~2000 pages. Plus the thing was so damn obtuse and totally non discoverable.

Then they released the Prime which is a buggy turd of a calculator wrapped in a very polished case.

Ended up with an old TI89 I paid £25 for on ebay that came with the manual which isn't a million pages long.

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#42

Post by adventured »

It really bothers me what has been been done to HP as an engine of innovation and product development. It's extremely similar to what the leadership at IBM has done to that company the last ~15 years.

I feel like the destiny for both of these companies is to slowly be split into ever smaller pieces until half of those pieces are eventually acquired by other US or Chinese firms for dirt cheap (and nothing against Chinese firms, rather, they'll find value in what IBM / HP are throwing away through negligence).

Profit milking, EPS goosing, bad acquisitions, and financial engineering are all the leaders at HP and IBM seem to know how to do. The MBAs took over engineering cultures, and this is the result. (contrasted with actually creating new products the market wants and generating new profit streams and new growth)

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#43

Post by cr3ative »

Bud wrote: post #20
lallysingh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or one company's Hewlett, and the other Packard?

Personally, I am hoping for "H" and "P".

They'd save a lot of money on new logos and letterheads by just flipping their existing logo upside down. HP and DY. It'll be fine.

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#44

Post by adventured »

italophil wrote: post #29

Both IBM and Sony sold their PC business. Dell showed us how well stand alone PC business with low margins fares on the stock market. I wonder why HP toke a different approach, no buyer, no immediate need for cash or something else?

They definitely don't need cash - they got back to a $5b profit last year; $14b in cash; $9b in long-term investments. They do have a mediocre balance sheet at best, but in the current (temporary) low-cost-of-debt environment, they likely aren't worried about cash vs debt.

I'd go with the 'other' category. Either buyers won't offer what they think it's worth, or they liked the synergy with printers (and now they get to spin off both simultaneously).

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#46

Post by wittekm »

q2 wrote: post #32

How is this different to the strategy/plans outlined by HP's previous CEO Leo Apotheker before he got fired abruptly? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9o_Apotheker#Hewlett-Pack...

It's been a while, but I think Apotheker's plan was a two-parter:

* to kill off / sell off the consumer division

* to just turn HP into an IBM-type enterprise company.

The former isn't exactly true in this case; the latter is coming true.

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#47

Post by krupan »

knackernews wrote: post #36

Sigh ... If only Mark Hurd remained at the company.

They'd still be burning the furniture to make quarterly numbers look good? Mark Hurd had no idea what to do with an engineering company. Making numbers look good by cutting costs and reallocating assets was his only skill.

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#48

Post by krupan »

nandhp wrote: post #38
walterbell wrote: post #2

Which division gets the memristors?

Which division gets the calculators? I learned about the HP-12C today, which appears to be the TI-83 of finance: "The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction in 1981" ... "In 2008, HP modified the design so that new production runs contain an ARM processor which runs an emulated version of previous chips." http://www.hp.com/calculators/ http://store.hp.com/webap…

When I left HP around 6 years ago there were maybe 3 HP employees left working on calculators, no joke. They were doing their best to keep the dream alive, but they just didn't have a lot of backing or resources.

Re: Hewlett-Packard Plans to Break in Two

#50

Post by joshmn »

pera wrote: post #27
ben1040 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, but also hoping they'll call the corporate hardware/services company "DEC."

The return of Compaq and DEC? That would be lovely!

My father worked for DEC; when it got bought out by Compaq, he worked for Compaq; when that got bought out by HP, he worked for HP (and still does).

He's an enterprise-level field-service tech. He's the go-to guy for most HPs largest clients in Minnesota (UHG, USPS, 3M, UMN all come to mind), and in the Upper-Midwest.

He's always said that DEC did the most incredible stuff out of all the generations of hardware he's seen.

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