Whitman Must Bury 8/18/11

August 18, 2011 is the day that will live in infamy for HP VARs. In one fell swoop, HP's former CEO, Leo Apotheker, announced it was possibly spinning off its PSG division, killing its six-week-old TouchPad tablet and buying a UK software vendor, Autonomy, for more than $10 billion. Over the mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:CRN 2012-02 (1318), p.60
Main Author: Damore, Kelley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chief executive officers
Computer industry
Corporate planning
Information technology
Value added resellers
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:August 18, 2011 is the day that will live in infamy for HP VARs. In one fell swoop, HP's former CEO, Leo Apotheker, announced it was possibly spinning off its PSG division, killing its six-week-old TouchPad tablet and buying a UK software vendor, Autonomy, for more than $10 billion. Over the months, this date has been specifically referenced time and again by VARs--and even HP executives--as an indelible mark left on the company--a time when the biggest IT channel was turned upside-down and defined more by uncertainty than predictability. One cannot understate the damage done to the channel by the 11-month tenure of Apotheker. Since 8/18, the HP channel has been in limbo trying to decide whether it should stick with HP, or diversify and invest in other vendors. This is all against a backdrop of extraordinary change within the technology marketplace as VARs try to shift their business models in order to capture some of the cloud and mobile revenue. Still others are looking to an unlikely ally--Apple--in light of its astounding iPad success.
ISSN:1539-7343