HP has done some not so clever decisions in last couple of years. When they bought PalmOS, it was the number one SmartPhone OS, with Windows Mobile getting closer and Symbian (as a Smartphone OS) only just woken up.
But rather than embrace PalmOS they decided to build WebOS pretty much from ground up. This killed off PalmOS and left a nice void into Smartphone markets for RIM (Blackberry) and later on Google and Apple to fill in. Why they bought PalmOS in the first place I will never umderstand.
HP then ended up not releasing any PalmOS devices and spent years to build their WebOS. So they did not make their entry into the mobile/smartphone markets until RIM, Google and Apple already had dominance. Their one and only device also took years to develop and as such was already a lower specification and functionality-wise poorer choice than its competitors.
This did not stop HP asking for premium price for it, so it was no surprise that it did not sell. Actually it did not sell at all until they dropped its price to third of the original price and ended up selling it cheaper than it took to build these devics.
So HP decided to step out of mobility game, and this was done in the verge of PC sales predicted to start shrinking. Did nobody in HP check research predictions from likes of Gartner and Forrester? Of course this makes more sense as their traditional sales market (PC) was already shrinking rapidly.
Next followed huge lay-offs and no guidance/vision what HP was planning to do. This has continued until today, so no wonder HP staff are potentially disgruntled, un-loyal and looking for other opportunities. There has also been the occasional odd rumor on buy-outs like Oracle buying HP, HP buying RIM etc.
HP has now announced they are back into the mobility/smartphone/tablet game. This is not surprising as they really have no choice. However they have not yet announced what technology they are planning to use.
I believe the clever move would be to use windows mobile 8 technology - after all HP has years of experience on Windows Operating Systems. Also Microsoft is very hungry to grow on these markets, so HP could expect a lot of support for this move.
Statistically though HP has not done any clever moves yet, so who wants to bet they do something else instead - my personal favorites are resurrecting WebOS, using open source like Linux and of course buying RIM.
But rather than embrace PalmOS they decided to build WebOS pretty much from ground up. This killed off PalmOS and left a nice void into Smartphone markets for RIM (Blackberry) and later on Google and Apple to fill in. Why they bought PalmOS in the first place I will never umderstand.
HP then ended up not releasing any PalmOS devices and spent years to build their WebOS. So they did not make their entry into the mobile/smartphone markets until RIM, Google and Apple already had dominance. Their one and only device also took years to develop and as such was already a lower specification and functionality-wise poorer choice than its competitors.
This did not stop HP asking for premium price for it, so it was no surprise that it did not sell. Actually it did not sell at all until they dropped its price to third of the original price and ended up selling it cheaper than it took to build these devics.
So HP decided to step out of mobility game, and this was done in the verge of PC sales predicted to start shrinking. Did nobody in HP check research predictions from likes of Gartner and Forrester? Of course this makes more sense as their traditional sales market (PC) was already shrinking rapidly.
Next followed huge lay-offs and no guidance/vision what HP was planning to do. This has continued until today, so no wonder HP staff are potentially disgruntled, un-loyal and looking for other opportunities. There has also been the occasional odd rumor on buy-outs like Oracle buying HP, HP buying RIM etc.
HP has now announced they are back into the mobility/smartphone/tablet game. This is not surprising as they really have no choice. However they have not yet announced what technology they are planning to use.
I believe the clever move would be to use windows mobile 8 technology - after all HP has years of experience on Windows Operating Systems. Also Microsoft is very hungry to grow on these markets, so HP could expect a lot of support for this move.
Statistically though HP has not done any clever moves yet, so who wants to bet they do something else instead - my personal favorites are resurrecting WebOS, using open source like Linux and of course buying RIM.