Now there’s a gutsy firm, led by a gutsy CEO, mr. Leo Apotheker (in Dutch this name can be read as: Lion’s Pharmacist). HP is the no.1 PC maker in the world. Many celebrities have declared on HP’s account that the computer ’is personal again’. So personal, apparently, that HP itself no longer wants anything to do with it: the PC business has been effectively put up for sale.
In a further twist, HP simultaneously announced it would take over a UK software firm (ironically?) called Autonomy.
Analysts as well as investors are shocked, causing HP shares to dive to a 6-year low on August 19th.
Why? Why leave a market where you are number 1? Well, on some counts, HP is one of the last giants jumping off a sinking ship: the PC as an autonomous force in hardware
Filed under: Innovation strategy, Real-world examples, Business, Chief executive officer, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, IPad, Leo Apotheker, Personal computer, WebOS
