Following various rumors during the week, HP has now confirmed that Jon Rubinstein, former head of Palm, Inc., has left the company.
Rubinstein was CEO of Palm, Inc. before HP acquired the company back in 2010. In recent months, his role for the company has been reduced to R&D work.
Before joining Palm, Rubinstein was the head of Apple’s iPod devision and had a major role in bringing the small hard drives to the original models in 2001.
HP chief Meg Whitman and key board member Marc Andreessen in an interview Friday revived talk of webOS tablets following a decision to open-source the code. Despite quashing any near-term hopes, Andreessen explained to TechCrunch that HP saw not only other companies making webOS tablets but also HP itself. There might not be any hardware in 2012, Whitman added, but it would certainly happen by 2013.
Read more: http://www.macnn.com/#ixzz1g5alc429
In the most dramatic stay of execution since Robin Hood shot an arrow through Little John‘s noose, HP has decided that webOS will live on as open source. And there was much merriment and backslappery throughout the land! Also: good work, HP. This couldn’t have worked out better.
The news came today after months of uncertainty about the platform’s future, with rumors ranging from death to a sale to a life of powering printer apps. Now, though? An unlimited future, according to HP’s press release:
To read the Press Release via Engadget, click here.
Early Monday, is Cyber Monday in the U.S. It’s a day when web sites such as Amazon.com and other online retailers offer special deals on various products.
Here are some known ones:
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
eBay
eToys
Home Shopping Network (HSN)
KMart
MacConnection
MacMall
QVC
Shop NBC
Star Trek Store
Star Wars Store
Target
Walmart
Meg Whitman
IDG News Service - Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker was ousted from his position on Thursday and replaced by HP director and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, less than a year after he took the job.
To successfully execute its strategy, the company requires “additional attributes” in its CEO, traits that Whitman possesses, HP said.
In addition to naming Whitman president and CEO, HP said that Ray Lane has now changed positions, from non-executive chairman of HP’s board to executive chairman. The board “intends to appoint a lead independent director promptly,” it added.
We are fortunate to have someone of Meg Whitmans caliber and experience step up to lead HP, Lane said in a statement.
Whitman is “a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution,” and a “strong communicator,” he added. “Furthermore, as a member of HPs board of directors for the past eight months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and markets.
“I am honored and excited to lead HP,” Whitman said in a statement. “I believe HP matters it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world.
Rumors had swirled in recent days that HP’s board was about to part ways with Apotheker, a former CEO of business software vendor SAP. Only a tiny amount of HP’s business currently comes from software, a fact Apotheker sought to change in a strategy he laid out soon after joining the company in September 2010.
Apotheker came to HP at a turbulent time following the departure of its high-profile CEO, Mark Hurd, after a scandal involving his relationship with an HP contractor. Hurd ended up securing a post as co-president of HP rival Oracle.
The market did not react well to a number of announcements and moves Apotheker made, including the planned purchase of infrastructure software vendor Autonomy and talk of spinning off HP’s PC division. This last topic sparked a major downturn in HP’s stock price, which may have quickened Apotheker’s removal.
Overall, the HP experience must have had an element of deja vu for Apotheker, given the trouble he experienced as sole CEO of Germany-based SAP.
A long-time SAP executive, Apotheker ultimately lasted less than a year in the top post there as well, and was replaced by insiders Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott in February 2010 as SAP returned to the co-CEO format it had used in the past.
“I think that Apotheker came into something of a thankless job,” said Charles King, president and principal analyst with Pund-IT. “It’s difficult for any CEO to come into a company that is in turmoil, which HP clearly was after the ouster of Mark Hurd.”
To read the rest of the ComputerWorld article, click here.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ)’s board plans to meet to consider whether to oust Leo Apotheker as chief executive officer after less than 11 months on the job, two people familiar with the matter said.
Under a scenario being considered, Hewlett-Packard’s directors may appoint former EBay Inc. (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman as his successor, possibly on an interim basis, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public.
If the board carries through on the plan, Apotheker, 58, would depart after slicing sales forecasts three times since he became CEO in November and presiding over strategy shifts that left shareholders doubting his credibility. The company’s stock has plunged 47 percent on his watch, and “investor exasperation” with management is at its highest in more than a decade, Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said in a research report last week.
Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, rose as much as 6.1 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, after Bloomberg reported the possible management change, reversing an earlier decline. It gained 92 cents to $23.39 as of 11:23 a.m. Through yesterday, it lost almost half its value since closing at $42.04 on the last trading day before Apotheker became CEO.
Whitman, who joined Hewlett-Packard’s board in January after a failed bid to become California’s governor last year, had a mixed record at EBay. As CEO for a decade, she took the company public and pioneered online commerce for small businesses. Yet she also failed to halt a slowdown in revenue growth and overpaid for Skype Technologies SA after a three-way bidding war with Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.
Pressure on Apotheker intensified last month after he announced a sweeping overhaul that included a $10.3 billion acquisition of Autonomy Corp. and a possible spinoff of Hewlett- Packard’s personal computer division. He also reversed course on a plan announced only five months earlier to put the WebOS mobile operating system onto the company’s computers.
While the shifts were designed to push Hewlett-Packard into higher-margin products, investors said the company risks paying too much for Autonomy, and that it announced the possible spinoff too early, according to Sacconaghi.
“Our conversations with investors continue to point to near universal opposition of the Autonomy acquisition, due to its high price,” he wrote in the Sept. 13 note.
The plunge in Hewlett-Packard’s stock left it susceptible to buyers looking to break it up and acquire the pieces, according to Solaris Group LLC.
Apotheker, former CEO of German software maker SAP AG (SAP), aimed to transform Hewlett-Packard into a provider of more profitable software and services for businesses that are doing more computing on remote servers, via the so-called cloud. Yet, results were plagued by tepid demand for PCs, as consumers in growing numbers snapped up competing mobile devices and tablets, such as Apple Inc.’s iPad.
His tenure at Hewlett-Packard may barely outlast his 10- month stint as CEO of SAP. He resigned in February 2010 after an attempted price increase during the recession that rankled consumers and a clash with German unions on plans to cut jobs. He presided over the company’s first revenue decline since 2003 as customers delayed software purchases.
Apotheker joined Hewlett-Packard after Mark Hurd departed as CEO amid a scandal over a personal relationship with a company contractor. Hurd now is a co-president at Oracle Corp.
Via: Bloomberg.com
Just 3 weeks ago, HP (HPQ) EVP Todd Bradley was at a Fortune Conference in Aspen talking about the “ubiquity” of WebOS. He was optimistic about signing several distribution deals to take the mobile OS worldwide and beef up its marketshare.
A lot has changed since then.
Todd’s boss – Leo Apotheker – has other ideas. As of yeseterday’s earnings call, HP has now turned its back on WebOS and Todd’s entire division PSG, which stands for Personal Systems Group. That division — which might as well be renamed Compaq — will be spun-out from the rumbling, bumbling, stumbling mother ship.
It’s quite a comedown for Bradley.
The former CEO of Palm and head of distribution at the cow-themed Gateway was rumored to be the top insider candidate to get Mark Hurd’s job. But the HP board — probably the worst board in Corporate American for 10 years running — decided to go for Leo.
Bradley was a buddy of Mark Hurd’s, so he was on thin ice as soon as Leo arrived.
Odds are he’s out of HP before Labor Day. Why stay?
The Palm acquisition was his baby really. My guess is he joins up with Silver Lake or some similiar PE firm before Halloween.
To read part 2 of the Forbes article, click here.
HP’s startling disclosure yesterday that it is looking into a sale or spinoff of its PC business and is discontinuing its webOS-based hardware program has sent shock waves through the industry. One of the more curious aspects of the move is HP’s plans for webOS, the company’s mobile operating system that it obtained with last year’s $1.2 billion purchase of Palm and relaunched on new Pre smartphones and the TouchPad tablet just months ago.
According to This is my next…, HP informed its webOS team during an all-hands meeting yesterday that it remains committed to the platform, although it is unclear exactly how the company will look to capitalize on it, whether through potential licensing or other means.
In the meeting, webOS GBU VP Stephen DeWitt made it clear that HP intends to continue to work on webOS and likely intends to license it. DeWitt was adamant, saying several times “We are not walking away from webOS.” He detailed a plan to try to determine what the platform’s future will look like within the next two weeks, although he admitted that “Clearly, we don’t have all the answers today.”
HP executive Todd Bradley noted that with webOS currently designed to work only on Qualcomm-based hardware, potential licensees would most likely be interested in seeing webOS modified to run on other chipsets if HP were to pursue that route.
But many have questioned whether HP will even be able to license webOS to third parties, given that neither Palm nor HP has been able to gain consumer traction with the platform. For its part, HP claims that it sees promise in the software that has been hampered by poor hardware.
On that note, The Next Web reports that HP engineers had gone as far as to test webOS running on an iPad, finding that the operating system ran “over twice as fast” on the iPad 2 as it did on the TouchPad for which it had been designed. Even running as a web app within the iPad 2′s Safari browser yielded substantially better performance than on the TouchPad.
The hardware reportedly stopped the team from innovating beyond certain points because it was slow and imposed constraints, which was highlighted when webOS was loaded on to Apple’s iPad device and found to run the platform significantly faster than the device for which it was originally developed.
With a focus on web technologies, webOS could be deployed in the iPad’s Mobile Safari browser as a web-app; this produced similar results, with it running many times faster in the browser than it did on the TouchPad.
The report notes that the TouchPad hardware had essentially already been designed when HP acquired Palm last year, with the engineers tasked with getting webOS running on the existing design. The resulting handicap of outdated hardware reportedly crippled the webOS team’s ability to innovate for the tablet platform and ultimately led to the poor market reception.
Regardless of the reasons, the TouchPad clearly did not take off as HP had hoped, and the company quickly pulled the plug on the project as part of its dramatic shift in business focus. The shift leaves the future of webOS unsettled, and while speculation has centered around whether a company like Amazon might be interested in acquiring it for its own use, others have suggested that HP might be better off simply selling off the patent portfolio associated with web OS, a move that could actually result in a profit relative to the company’s $1.2 billion acquisition price for Palm.
Via: MacRumors.com, BoyGenius.com
HP Confirms Discussions with Autonomy Corporation plc Regarding Possible Business Combination; Makes Other Announcements
PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–HP (NYSE: HPQ) today commented on the recent announcement by Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU.L). HP confirms that it is in discussions with Autonomy regarding a possible offer for the company.
HP also reported that it plans to announce that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG). HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction.
In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.
HP today announced preliminary results for the third fiscal quarter 2011, with revenue of $31.2 billion compared with $30.7 billion one year ago.
In the third quarter, preliminary GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.93 and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $1.10, compared with third quarter fiscal 2010 GAAP diluted EPS of $0.75 and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.08. Non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangible assets of approximately $0.17 per share and $0.33 per share in the third quarter of fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2010, respectively.
For the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, HP estimates revenue of approximately $32.1 billion to $32.5 billion, GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $0.44 to $0.55, and non-GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $1.12 to $1.16. Non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance excludes after-tax costs of approximately $0.61 to $0.68 per share, related primarily to restructuring and shutdown costs associated with webOS devices, the amortization and impairment of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.
HP estimates full-year FY11 revenue will be approximately $127.2 billion to $127.6 billion, down from its previous estimate of $129 billion to $130 billion. FY11 GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $3.59 to $3.70, down from its previous estimate of at least $4.27, and FY11 non-GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $4.82 to $4.86, down from its previous estimate of at least $5.00. FY11 non-GAAP diluted EPS estimates exclude after-tax costs of approximately $1.16 to 1.23 per share, related primarily to restructuring and shutdown costs associated with webOS devices, the amortization and impairment of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.
HP will host a conference call with the financial community today at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET to discuss these announcements well as HP’s third quarter 2011 financial results. The call is accessible via an audio webcast atwww.hp.com/investor/2011q3webcast.
About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.
Use of non-GAAP financial information
To supplement HP’s consolidated condensed financial statements presented on a GAAP basis, HP provides non-GAAP operating profit, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share and gross cash. HP also provides forecasts of non-GAAP diluted earnings per share. A reconciliation of the adjustments to GAAP results for this quarter and prior periods is included in the tables below. In addition, an explanation of the ways in which HP management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate its business, the substance behind HP management’s decision to use these non-GAAP measures, the material limitations associated with the use of these non-GAAP measures, the manner in which HP management compensates for those limitations, and the substantive reasons why HP management believes that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors is included under “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” after the tables below. This additional non-GAAP financial information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating profit, operating margin, net earnings, diluted earnings per share, or cash and cash equivalents prepared in accordance with GAAP.
Forward-looking statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to any projections of revenue, margins, expenses, earnings, tax provisions, cash flows, benefit obligations, share repurchases, currency exchange rates, the impact of acquisitions or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations, the exploration of strategic options for PSG and the execution of cost reduction programs and restructuring and integration plans; any statements concerning the expected development, performance or market share relating to products or services; any statements regarding current or future macroeconomic trends or events and the impact of those trends and events on HP and its financial performance; any statements regarding pending business combination transactions; any statements regarding pending investigations, claims or disputes; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the impact of macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the competitive pressures faced by HP’s businesses; the development and transition of new products and services and the enhancement of existing products and services to meet customer needs and respond to emerging technological trends; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its suppliers, customers and partners; the protection of HP’s intellectual property assets, including intellectual property licensed from third parties; integration and other risks associated with business combination and investment transactions; the hiring and retention of key employees; assumptions related to pension and other post-retirement costs; expectations and assumptions relating to the execution and timing of cost reduction programs and restructuring and integration plans; the possibility that the expected benefits of pending business combination transactions may not materialize as expected or that the transactions may not be timely completed; the resolution of pending investigations, claims and disputes; and other risks that are described in HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2010 and HP’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including HP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2011. As in prior periods, the financial information set forth in this release, including tax-related items, reflects estimates based on information available at this time. While HP believes these estimates to be meaningful, these amounts could differ materially from actual reported amounts in HP’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2011. In particular, determining HP’s actual tax balances and provisions as of July 31, 2011 requires extensive internal and external review of tax data (including consolidating and reviewing the tax provisions of numerous domestic and foreign entities), which is being completed in the ordinary course of preparing HP’s Form 10-Q. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
© 2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
The largest electronics retailer, QVC, is taking care of customers who purchased a HP Touchpad from them before HP cut the price by $100.00 last week.
In the below email to customers, the company is refunding $110.00 plus matching the price for the Touchpad:
Dear Valued Customer:
I’m writing with good news about your order for the HP TouchPad 32GB Wi-Fi Touchstone Dock & Case, item E167734 / E167900, which you purchased for $659.00. The price is being reduced to $549.00, and we’re passing the savings on to you!
A refund in the amount of $110.00 has been issued to your original method of payment for every HP TouchPad you purchased.
For your convenience, you can always view the status of all your orders and returns by visiting QVC.com. We’re also available to assist you in Customer Service at800.367.9444 between 7 am – 1am Eastern Time, seven days a week.
We look forward to serving you again soon!
Best regards,
Dan McDermott, Senior Vice President
Customer Services
