HP to keep making PC's after all.

[Dos_Box]

BBC News - Hewlett Packard will now keep its PC and tablet arm

Hewlett Packard (HP) says it will now keep its personal computer division after reviewing a plan by its former chief executive to sell it.
The decision to retain the personal systems group (PSG) was made by HP's new head, Meg Whitman, who said HP would be a "stronger" firm as a result.
Her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, said earlier this year the company would look to spin-off the hardware arm.

Good.
It doesn't say so, but I trust this includes laptops as well.

[localzuk]

The thing is, they never said they were going to spin it off, sell it or turn it into a pumpkin. They said they were looking at various options to see what was the best way forward, which the media spun to mean 'the end is nigh! HP is going to scrap it all!!'...

And yes, it includes laptops. PSG includes all their personal and business desktops, laptops, tablets, PDAs, and media connected devices (eg MediaVaults etc...).

[SYNACK]

They made the right call, if they had dropped the client machine range then many places were going to start looking elswhere for other stuff as well.

[Dos_Box]

Yes, but with the old CEO (IIRC) they never confirmed or denied that they were to do it, that way it left it open as an 'option'. With the way computing is going (more portable and tablets) I think it would have been very costly for HP in the long run to miss out on a lions share of this market. That and it played havoc with their stock price whch should hopefully get boosted on this news. All they have to do is buy in a shed load of new hard drives. Oh.
Saying that, they did take a (tiny) bit of a dive at COP yesterday: Hewlett-Packard Company Common Share Price | HPQ- Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance I wonder if it was based on this news?

[localzuk]

Thing is, with the amount of portable/tablet stuff going on, its strange that they've abandoned the tablet market still...

[Dos_Box]

It's not too late for them to jump on the W8 bandwagon yet.

[Arthur]

It's not too late for them to jump on the W8 bandwagon yet.

They've already jumped on the bandwagon. HP will definitely be making Windows 8 tablets/slates.

thisismynext.com/2011/10/27/whitman-hp-tablet-business-windows-8-long-term-decision-webos-coming-months/

[Arthur]

According to HPs press release it was a data-driven decision. Did Léo Apotheker not have this data when he was CEO?

The strategic review involved subject matter experts from across the businesses and functions. The data-driven evaluation revealed the depth of the integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. It also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP’s solutions portfolio and overall brand value. Finally, it also showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation. (Source)

[SYNACK]

According to HPs press release it was a data-driven decision. Did Léo Apotheker not have this data when he was CEO?

Probably, that would be why he was doing it. You can't pilfer the companies money easily if it is tied up in profitable ventures.