A smaller HP?
HP announced at its 3Q 2011 Earnings call that it was shutting down WebOS hardware development along with exploring alternatives for its Personal Systems Group. Looks to me like HP is going the IBM route, focusing on enterprise software and services.
There are a lot of things that can be read into this decision.
Is the PC market viable for large players anymore? Dell seems to do okay, but it is a more lean and nimble company compared to HP. Lenovo has taken off since its departure from IBM and has become more innovative in its approach to PC design. Maybe HP was too big and this will help the HP line of computers in the long run. The companies you hear in the tech news today on the PC side when it comes to innovation are the Asus type companies. Much smaller and much less diversity, able to focus and innovate in the PC space.
WebOS was not killed, just the devices. HP obviously still sees some sort of market for WebOS. I am not sure I agree. On the phone side, Android has taken lead and in the tablet space, Apple has a good handle there. Is there room for WebOS. I do not think so, there would be 5 major players in the mobile space with WebOS (Apple, Android, RIM and Microsoft), with an obvious lead by two of them at this point. Can you survive at 3, let alone at 4 or 5. I think Microsoft has a chance here to become the 3rd player, and unless RIM or HP/WebOS can all of a sudden become more innovative and get out of their own way, they should have no problem getting there.
HP is too diverse of a company to maintain status quo. IBM learned this a number of years ago and stopped development and sold off a number of pieces to maintain a focus in certain areas and has shown it works and is profitable. HP needs to do the same thing.
