Tag: company direction

Articles

Hewlett-Packard to Split Into Two Companies: Report | NBC News

Hewlett-Packard to split in 2 | The Australian

Partners: HP Split Could Unlock Value Of Both PC-Printer And Enterprise Businesses | Computer Reseller News

My Comments

HP Envy 4 Touchsmart notebook computer

Recent news is that Hewlett-Packard is to split in to two entities with one covering PCs and printers and another covering Tech services which is encompassing the enterprise computing sector. This is to offset the losses caused by the reduced demand for regular personal computers and printers due to mobile computing devices (smartphones and tablets) being the preferred way to go.

HP OfficeJet 6700 multifunction inkjet printer

By splitting the entities, there is the ability for HP to have the companies focus on the expertise and value that each of them will provide without one of them affecting the other negatively. This was in contrast to HP previously acquiring Compaq who had bought out DEC who were known for the PDP-11 and VAX mainframe computers with their associated terminals and peripherals. In this case, HP’s PCs and printers company could place more effort on winning back the “personal computing and printing” market for both business and home users as well as increasing that effort that they started on printing for mobile devices that they started with their ePrint initiative.

HP Elitebook 2560P business notebook computer

The questions that can be raised here are what of the branding for the separate entities as in how each of these entities will be known. As well how will this affect HP’s footing in to the commercial printing sector such as the digital presses and photo printing systems – whether this will be part of the “Tech services” company or the “PCs and printers” company. Yet another question that can be raised is how research and development that HP has been known for will be affected, especially if one of the companies puts forward an innovation that is of benefit to the other company’s products.

This will remind me a bit of the way IBM divested themselves of their hardware businesses over the years, with the printing and typewriter business going to Lexmark, the personal computing business going to Lenovo and the data storage business going to Hitachi. It was in order for them to focus on the enterprise data services sector rather than running a monolith that has other loss-making functions.

Article

Consumers Choose Samsung Over Apple – Channel News

My Comments

Samsung are heading to a new “lifestyle brand” image based on the success of their Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 smartphones. Here, their marketing had been driven by the value-focused “more bang for the buck” philosophy.

Similarly the court of public opinion has headed towards Samsung’s favour even through the lawsuits that Apple has been taking out against this company. Even though a case that Samsung initiated against Apple went in Apple’s favour, Apple is still seen as a “bully” when it comes to the way they control their brand and product ecosystem.

But this direction could have some very interesting paths about. This could affect the price of the technology this company sells; or it could affect how the product range is evolved. For example, I would see the Samsung brand become very much like Sony where the name is driven by high-quality equipment that is core to one’s lifestyle.

Of course these factors such as the value-priced highly-functional products and the court of public opinion have helped Samsung to make sure that their brand will be considered highly valuable. Other factors such as Samsung using common standards like the microUSB connection on mobile phones and DLNA in network-capable AV equipment are also underscoring the concept of value for this brand.

Another issue that could be raised is the ability to make content part of the lifestyle equation. At the moment, Samsung have an alternate app store for their Galaxy Android phones and tablets, as well as an app framework for their smart TV ecosystem. The content issue may be about seeking partnerships with existing content studios, including games studios in order to resell the content through these frameworks.

Similarly, this could also be a chance for Samsung to build strong partnerships when it comes to designing or building the equipment concerned. This could include building a partnership with an “audio name of respect” like B&O, Bose or JBL to improve sound reproduction in computer and TV equipment like what has happened with many computer manufacturers. On the other hand, it could include them building Super OLED touchscreen displays for other manufacturers to use in their products’ user interfaces.

This could show that Korea could start to become like Japan as far as electronics goes where the focus is on high-grade technology rather than being consider second-fiddle to that country.