Apotheker could be leaving HP as early as today; Meg Whitman to take his place 145
HP's Board of Directors could be making their second CEO change in the last year later today, says a report from AllThingsD. As the former CEO of eBay and current Director on HP's Board, Meg Whitman is expected to be voted into the top-spot at HP after the markets are closed this evening.
The 55 year-old Whitman is not expected to go in for a short-term interim role as the CEO, either, saying that, "She wants to run the company and be a strong leader for what she considers an important tech powerhouse." If she does plan on sticking around, though, she should be preparing to face a lot of watchful eyes as the world critiques her ability to turn the company around.
There is a chance that HP's Board will not make the vote tonight, but it certainly is looking more likely that Leo Apotheker will be ousted from his seat in the coming days.
Source: AllThingsD; Via: The Verge
145 Comments
Go Meg!
Still too late to save WebOS though I'm afraid.
Its not too late... The market is still growing and with good marketing and better software, it can happen...
It is rare that a guy can pull off a ascot. Maybe Meg is the right Man for the job!
Uh, they tried marketing and price cuts earlier. Didn't work. Thanks to the horrible way they exited the market, Leo effectively killed any chance at re-entry.
That wasn't good marketing... I said "WITH GOOD MARKETING" and the OS is still not polished enough... I hate to say it but geez... Learn from Apple...
Apple really doesn't have to market though. Look at the iphone 5. it will sell tremendously well. And there hasn't been a single commercial yet. I'm sure they'll have some after but that phone will be sold out by then. I think it takes more then a good marketing spin. People, and much more then just people on a palm enthusiast site, but average, people have to like the actual product and i don't think they do unless they are at a massive cut rate price.
I didn't hear anyone around here slagging the Manny Pacquiao ads or the Russell Brand one and certainly not the Lea Michele ones.
That's as close as WebOS has ever gotten to close-up straightforward ads that show the OS. Not sure what could be different.
I just learned a new term...'slagging'! I read that it means to tease or make fun of...is that about right?
If that is right, I think there were people on the boards here at Precentral making fun of the ads. I didn't I liked them pretty well. I'm a fan of Manny though, and Miranda Cosgrove was cute. Didn't really know Lea Michele. Russell is pretty funny. All in all, I liked those ads for the Veer and TP.
yeah they were loving them. but don't forget it's all the fault of best buy sales reps.
"Leo effectively killed any chance at re-entry. "
Says who?
You wanna know how Apple survived their annus horribilis of 1997? People once said "Amelio, after axing Copland, killed any chance for Apple and the Mac of surviving, give up already." But Apple said "We'll give up when we want to give up. Here, here's Mac OS 7.6. And in a year we've got this thing called an iMac coming up. Too little too late? We'll be the judges of that."
HP, post-Leo, needs to take that position. "People think webOS is dead and Leo killed any chance at re-entry? Check it out, webOS 2.5 and 3.5. We'll give up when we want to give up."
PERSISTENCE SELLS. It's how Apple stayed alive in 1997 and it'll be how HP's webOS survives 2011.
Right on!!!!
We are WARRIORS!!
There are many differences between the two scenarios, but the first one that comes to mind is that Apple HAD to keep competing as that was the lifeblood of their company.
HP does not need to own a mobile OS and can just as easily lapse back into a Windows licensee for phones and continue putting Windows on tablets or PCs if they keep making hardware.
WebOS is just something they bought that couldn't make money. Leo didn't kill off WebOS hardware by his lonesome. The same board members who enabled it remain there. Most of the ground troops are fired/laid off.
WebOS did not - past tense - survive 2011.
you call that supposed stupid sales task force at retailers and that 1 commercial I saw of Russel brand marketing? The majority of my coworkers had no idea a touchpad existed. On top of that they priced it at iPad levels. That's piss pore in my opinion
I think there is still a financial reality that is problematic for webos. So even if you bring back webos it's still not profitable. for webos its not like its somehow changed and become highly profitable.
Well, that's"reality" reality. Here in PreCentral reality, burning off hundreds of millions to liquidate inventory is a GREAT MOVE that "seeds" your product and will have developers begging to come aboard if you should re-enter the market.
Complete liquidation is SUCH a "brilliant" strategy, one wonders why ANY upstart business doesn't follow this model.
brilliant. Not to mention they already lost $332 million the prior quarter trying to sell them at a profit.
It depends. Maybe if they did bring webOS back, it won't be profitable... but how long will it not be profitable, and is it the good kind of "not profitable"? For example, when the PS3 and XBox 360 were initially sold, they were sold at a loss, with Sony and Microsoft knowing completely that people who buy games and accessories for their systems will be enough to offset their costs.
If webOS is to survive, HP should focus on:
1. NOT competing against Apple and Google... for now
2. Accept a loss in profits in order to get the webOS out into the hands of the people (which might have already happened).
As long as HP is persistent and consistent and doesn't fall back against its word (like Leo did), then the webOS has every possibility to stay alive and eventually thrive.
Royalties on mobile apps and accessories do NOT equal royalties on console games (sold at roughly 20-50x the price) and accessories.
To put it in perspective, Steve Jobs boasted this year that they paid two billion to developers based on sales over THREE YEARS. Figuring Apple's 70/30 split, that means Apple made a gross of $850 million or so from the App Store during that period. Take several hundred million away for operating costs and other expenses, and they maybe pocketed $300 million from running the most successful online app store ever.
Let's say we live in a dream world and HP manages to surpass Android and the upcoming Windows 8 app store (suuuuuure) and match Apple's App Store in offerings and revenue. In that same three year period, HP will have lost several billion on hardware and R&D, yet have $300 million to offset it. Let's keep dreaming and say that they triple Apple's success! They still don't even offset the purchase price of Palm, and keep in mind they can't ever raise the prices. That is the BEST CASE scenario. There is literally NO scenario in which WebOS will be profitable. Why keep WebOS alive if it cannot make money for HP?
"Maybe if they did bring webOS back, it won't be profitable... but how long will it not be profitable" according to the hp earnings call the earliest would be two years and that's only with massive investment and it was far from sure.
phones are not xboxes and hp is not microsoft. xboxes require apps. PHones do not. xbox apps sell for 1/4 the cost of the console. Phone apps do not. Microsoft is selling a $200-$300 console and immediately getting $59 dollars back in a game purchase. Microsoft not only makes games, but produces, and distributes first and third party games not to mention the killer app for its platform Halo. HP does not make or produce any killer app for webos devices let alone one that would make up 1/4 of it's cost of build. Lastly, microsoft sells an xbox live subscription with a huge proportion of xbox's sold that accounts for another 1/4 of the cost. There is no similar subscription with a phone sale or tablet sale. Oh one more thing, xbox comes with only one controller so at $30 to $40 dollars a large number of xbox buyers must buy a second controller when they buy a console. That again helps make up the costs of building an xbox. HP makes few accessories that account for 1/5 the cost of a phone. I for one have never bought a Palm Pre accessory of any kind including a touchstone. I however have multiple xbox controllers, a head set, a remote, and memory card. Microsoft also collects licenses from game makers to put on their platform, netflix, facebook, hulu and others. it takes a cut of all media sold on the device, it sells avatars, it takes a cut from all sold third party games bought through digital downloads, it takes a cut of xpansion packs too. HP has does not have those revenue streams on a phone or tablet in nearly the same numbers.
a phone and tablet is not the same as an xbox.
I hate to say it but I doubt we'll see any fundamental change in the status of webOS land (the NYTimes article made it clear that the board was fine with the strategy, just not happy with Leo's execution/communication), though I still hold out hope it is possible. I'm sure Bradley, Ruby, and Phil Mckinney will all make the argument with whoever gets appointed CEO.
Any strategy change regarding webOS (and PSG) has to happen quickly - the webOS ecosystem becomes less valuable/viable by the day and PSG is losing ground with customers every day that there isn't clear direction and support from the top.
yeah i've read a lot and the biggest concerns where they question was potentially overspending for Autonomy, that they used 80% of their cash reserves to buy autonomy, and the decision to spin off PSG considering it's still accounts for like 33% of their profit. When it comes to webos i often read more comments saying they were wrong to buy it in the first place. Which wouldn't bode well for future hp webos stuff.
I dunno... it seems like the board was "fine" with the decision just like it was "fine" with having Leo on board, but I doubt that really is the case.
I'm sure people like Jon Rubenstein and friends are busting their bottoms putting together some kind of proposal for the new CEO that says "Look, things were awesome before all this **** about spinning off happened, give us another chance!" I certainly doubt they're just sitting around with their thumbs up their donkeys.
HEE HAW HEE HAW!!!!!!
Frankly, that is a secondary concern for me. I just want to see Apotheker fired. Yes, I want vengeance. :)
It's not that I don't get where he wanted to go. IBM dropped their PC business and re-shifted to the enterprise and has been very successful. Margins on PCs are ridiculously low. So yeah, I get it...but what I take issue with is the manner in which he has executed this plan...and its impact on WebOS and their PC division.
"Don't worry, they aren't dumping those businesses...they are just spinning them off!"
Yeah, tell that to the 500 folks who just got laid off from the WebOS group. Tell that to a market that has killed your stock...and enterprises like mine who are now looking elsewhere for our annual purchase of 30K desktops and laptops.
Apotheker may have had a vision and it may have been viable, but his execution and leadership are seriously flawed...and the HP Board also looks like a collection of idiots.
So, I guess Apotheker will now just have to tuck his tail between his legs and slink off with nothing to show for his effort than a white Touchpad and a 100 million dollar parachute. Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ b*tch. ;)
I don't think it's too late to save webOS; I posted a simple list of steps in another article that would get it done in short order.
That said, I don't think HP will try. Ditching webOS wasn't just Leo going rogue... the board had to have approved of that. The ugly, screwed-up way it was handled was Leo though, and that's why he's being fired.
However, if we assume for a moment that HP is serious about continuing webOS itself, but still wants to be out of the webOS hardware business, briefly resurrecting webOS hardware might be an effective form of damage control.
I think we all agree that the right way for HP to have done this in the first place would have been to reduce pricing on the TouchPad to around $329/$399/$479 (16gb, 32gb, and 64gb white/4g models sharing the top price point), make a serious launch of the other products already in the pipeline (Pre3 was already in full production obviously, TouchPad Go was ready for production or possibly in production), and then shop for licensees and/or partners to handle hardware going forward while continuing to nurture the webOS exosystem. Once they have others doing the next round of webOS hardware, they could bow out quietly without anyone thinking much of it.
While it's too late to put the 'right' price on the current TouchPad (can't keep making them to sell for $99/$149/$199, can't raise the price either), the remainder of the plan could still be implemented with the TouchPad Go and Pre3. All the drama surrounding and attention paid to HP and webOS in the past month may actually help such a revival effort.
Having a new CEO is absolutely mandatory though. "Leo was nuts" is the only way to sell any such reversal at this point.
I think your plan listed here looks solid. HP could bring back the HW temporarily while licensing to other vendors is sorted out. I think your original price lists would be what HP could bring the current Touchpad back at for a sustained run - these would be selling close to cost. Touchpad Go would have be sold for even less (presumably it would cost less to build). Yes, sales won't be fast and furious like during the firesale but would allow for the platform to continue to gain users.
HP also should announce the port of an Android player so that Android apps could run on webOS. There are 2 separate vendors shopping this solution now. The ability to run Android apps would quickly bring a lot of apps to webOS - this would increase the value of the platform for users (and would eliminate poor reviews that cite "lack of apps" on webOS) and make it much easier to find licensees (for example, Amazon has a lot of Android apps and would probably not look to throw that investment away as part of becoming a licensee).
http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/...
Why not just become an Android licensee and stop wasting billions on building hardware that plays Android apps?
If you want to see how healthy having an Android app player makes your ecosystem, check out the vast world of Blackberry Playbook apps available.
Well, let's just say that if webOS that ran Android apps, it would be the best of both worlds - webOS interface (cards/stacks, notifications, synergy), plus the huge library of Android apps.
Let's just say it would be an incredibly customized Android shell - but one that is actually good (unlike Blur/Sense/Touchwiz).
Your point on RIMM is fair but misses the real point. The fact that QNX has (or will have) an Android player has no relation to the amount of native apps or market success that it currently has - app developers are increasingly ignoring the lesser players in the market (webOS, QNX, Meego, etc) regardless. Mobile OSes other than Android and iOS are going to struggle to get application developers and apps written (Windows Phone is struggling, for example - but it looks like it might turn it around with help from Windows 8). RIMM doesn't have millions to burn selling loss-leader products to gain market share, they must adopt the Android APIs if they hope to survive. webOS is in a similar situation.
Unless webOS gets a lot more users, it will never have a lot of apps. And unless webOS has licensees and the ability to run a lot of apps, it won't get a lot of users without loss-leader pricing. Licensees will never go for loss-leader or at-cost device pricing (this would only benefit the owner of webOS and not the licensee). This is a vicious cycle.
Given all the uncertainty around webOS right now, a dramatic shift in strategy has to occur for webOS to have any chance of mainstream adoption - the alternative is a slow fade and burn out (*unless, of course, HP or another/new owner of webOS wants to spend lots of money with no guarantee of success - and how likely is that?)
AT&T is done with WebOS, as is Sprint. Verizon's CEO just said he thinks the only ecosystems that will survive are Apple, iOS. and Windows Phone at number 3.
What carrier wants the Pre 3 now? It was rejected by all but one when HP was actually taking this seriously. You think things are going to get BETTER?
The TouchPad Go can't exist in a market with firesale Touchpads. Unless you just HAVE TO HAVE the 7-inch version as opposed to the 10, there's literally no reason to pony up $300-$400 for a 7-inch 16GB Touchpad Go when you can have a new 32GB 10-inch Touchpad for less.
there will very soon be no firesale touchpads. the final production run is all but already sold. the HP SMB orders alone could consume nearly 100k of them. some small number will make it into retail, and will be gone within days or weeks at the most (simply depending on the logistics getting them from factory to retailers).
In my vision the TouchPad Go would be the only touchpad being sold for the immediate future (aside from the current touchpads being traded around on e-bay and craigslist).
as to the Pre3 and US carriers, yes, I don't dispute the fact that it would take some serious groveling by HP to get AT&T and Verizon to go with the Pre3. HP will have to move on price, to get the on-contract price down to around $99 (which translates to a retail price of around $349 or so). But with all the attention webOS currently has, they'd be crazy to turn down the Pre3 when it will at the very least let Verizon lock in their existing Pre+ customers for two more years, and offer both the chance to scoop up many scorned Sprint Pre- customers. There's also a huge number of new TouchPad owners who are suddenly thinking webOS is kinda neat, and might like to trade-up from their dumb- or feature-phones to a nice smartphone they already understand how to use, with a profitable data plan.
if HP makes the numbers right and makes the other commitments they'd need to make, the carriers aren't going to turn down profit for spite!
Soon, there will be "no Touchpads"? Unlikely. Most are rebuying through eBay, and will continue to do so. Already, there are a good number of auctions that go uncompleted, so it's not like every one even being sold on eBay NOW sells to a buyer. And many buying these now will resell in the next 6-12 months as cheaper tablets with better hardware (e.g. Kal-El) and viable ecosystems and apps appear.
HP cannot sell the TouchPad Go at a price that competes with firesale Touchpads.
HP has no intention of groveling to the carriers and dumping hundreds of millions more selling hardware at a loss with no plan for profitability down the line. You gotta have a huge ecosystem and willingness to absorb billions and billions of losses to make profits on the back end. Microsoft reportedly flushed down $5 billion just to get in the search game with Bing. I'm sure they've lost a few billion more on Windows Phone. But they're not going to quit either of those initiatives. That's part of the ecosystem they're betting their company on.
HP never bet the company on WebOS, and never will.
no, read carefully, I said soon there will be no FIRESALE touchpads. the ones being sold on ebay are just touchpads, and are selling at market prices (that is to say, there is no difference between a firesale touchpad bought for $149 and sold on e-bay for $325 and a launch-day touchpad bought for $599 and sold on e-bay for $325, except that the former seller is happier than the latter).
Whatever the eBay price, a 7-inch Touchpad cannot match or undercut it. Game over.
Everything done by man can be undone by man.
Given a good reason, say "$100 from out of our own pocket for every webOS phone you sell" or a "$10 million signing bonus" should be enough for these cell companies to say "hey, maybe we'll give webOS another chance!"
It's all business; unlike human-to-human transactions who hold naughty things against others, businesses are willing to forget the way they were treated... for the right price, that is.
If HP is serious about ditching Leo, I'm sure they'll be serious about repairing the bridges Leo burnt in his crusade to turn HP into IBM (if not building totally new bridges, period).
LOL.....$100 from every WebOS phone goes to the carriers? Riiiiight. So these phones which will already be aggressively priced in order to sell will now be $100 MORE in the hole. They'd literally be staying in business to build debt.
I dunno why HP didn't use that plan in the first place. The shareholders and balance sheet would just embrace it with open arms.
Make things right. Send me my TP $50 rebate. It's been nearly three months.
I'm sure there'll be a lot of reversals in the world of webOS, simply because "Leo was nuts". Even if the board approved of Leo's decisions, I'm sure they "liked" all his ideas just like they "liked" Leo. Although I'm preparing myself for the possibility of the board saying "even though Leo was nuts, but we're staying with ALL of his plans", I'm sure there's a good chance they'll out-and-out reverse their decisions, simply because I'm sure even after approving it the Board didn't realize what kind of backlash their decisions were going to get (as evidenced by the 50% drop in stock value and losing all kinds of business to Dell and so forth that has happened AFTER they approved their decision).
I think your plan is great, but I would like to just add one thing: DO NOT compete with Apple or Google (yet), simply focus on surviving and carving out a sizable market space. I think it was because HP tried to compete with Apple and Google that they overstretched their impossibly small size (the "Mouse That Roared", indeed) to literal breaking point. Maybe if HP had a FOUNDATION to attack from, they'd have a better chance to take on the big guys, but that ain't the case.
Keep in mind too (not that you don't already know this), but market share isn't this mystical 100% range that ALL changes to one's market share MUST come from someone else's share. The smartphone adoption rate is only 50% in the US. That means there is a lot of "virgin territory" left out there for HP/Palm to try to target such that Apple and Google can still grow in numbers but still lose market share. If HP focused on merely a tenth of that remaining 50% who don't own cellphones, then their market share would easily jump to maybe 10%-20%. And I wouldn't doubt that a good percentage of the people who bought the $100 Touchpad were part of that 50% who DON'T own cellphones, so they--bizarrely enough--already have established themselves into that 50% of non-smartphone users....
Just food for thought...
it seems my ideas to resurrect webOS are at least somewhat popular... anyone want to stage a hostile take-over of HP and install me as the new CEO?
Make Bradley the interim CEO
or even better, the long term CEO.
oh, and i hope they fire Ruby while they're at it too. he's done more harm than good as well.
Go Meg !!!! What great things can you do to help fix HP and hopefully to help make our beloved WebOS the next BIG THING, like it was supposed to be.
Take Care,
Judy
i smell an official ebay app.
;)
ROFL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReYfu5E-hOE
Also - Meg Whitman looks like Timmah with a wig on in that photo.
Todd Bradley FTW! Give him a chance!
How stupid can the BoD be? This woman will drive the company in the ground even further. HP stock will drop 50 percent in less than a year. HP needs a stockholder revolt.
Your remark "this woman" makes you appear sexist. You probably meant, "this person".
Hopefully, HP's BOD will also shelve anyone that aided in hiring Leo, or simply refused to interview him. In any event, let's hope for the best 'cause if Ms. Whitman was properly vetted then now is the time for her to make things right. Peace.
Actually he meant to say this Man... Still sexist I know. booooooo
Your remark "'cause if *Ms.* Whitman was properly vetted then now is the time for *her* to make things right." makes you appear sexist. You probably meant "Whitman" and "this person".
Makes about as much sense...
You know, this raises a question I have about proper english in a non-personal setting. What is appropriate when referring to an adult female person in a business or non-personal article or other writing? There is Miss and Mrs., which I have always understood/believed are both sexist except when it's a personal reference like "my friends usually refer to my sister as "Miss" Lucy...". The only term I use in a non-personal/business reference to an adult female person is "Ms." Am I wrong? What does Harbrace say...how about Ms. Manners...or is is Miss Manners? I'm confused...more than usual.
I prefer to use the word "them" to avoid gendering the subject.
Why would Mrs. and Miss be sexist in any writing? Is Mr. also sexist? Political correctness is out of hand! When the OP said "this woman", we was talking about the woman that this article was written about.
Rubinstein for CEO!!!!
He knows what HP should do!
;)
The problem with Ruby is that he had the resources of HP behind him, yet still couldn't get devices out quickly. That to me is a critical failure, and he had very little excuse for the poor execution we saw.
He had the resources, sure, but did HP let him have it? Doubtful.
It's like Ruby was a rich kid inside Toys R' Us. All the toys inside Toys R' Us were "his", but did Toys R' Us let him have it? Nope. You gotta EARN it first, buddy.
You realize he was the one to approve the Pre2, Pre3, and Veer models. I have and enjoy my Pre2 and would like a Pre3 but why didn't he try to push toward a keyboardless phone vs. going smaller with the Veer. I don't think Ruby has his finger on the pulse of the market. He just does his own thing.
Sometimes thinking inside the box is necessary. No vote for Ruby from me.
Actually, the insider news is that there was a phone like that, but it was horribly late and obsolete enough that the carriers passed on it. Of course, I have no way to verify that information.
Take someone from HP's highly-dysfunctional Board of Directors and have HER run the company.
Wow. Just...wow. This just doesn't get any better.
At least this time they took someone from within HP (granted she's only been on the board for less than a year).
And AT LEAST the HP board knows has met her and knows who she is. We weren't offered that with Leo...
It's interesting to see Precentral folks try to muster enthusiasm about the leadership of HP - a company that is mostly focused on non-mobile technology industries. Now that HP has dropped mobile hardware, what's the interest? It's HP - practically the definition of boring.
Unless HP makes changes, there is little-to-no chance for webOS.
Hiring Whitman isn't exactly a change, and HP's sacking of the majority of WebOS GBU personnel tells you exactly what chance they see for WebOS - as we know it - going forward.
The layoffs were a function of Leo, and the BoD has nothing to do with that. Of course, people could be re-hired quickly if the CEO changes and reverses the most recent bad decisions.
One can hope...
"People could be rehired quickly"....
Seriously? What business fires and rehires whole divisions within weeks? I'd love to see the morale of this lot upon returning knowing that they could be fired AGAIN whenever the wind blows in a different direction. I'm sure they'd give all of their focus to WebOS, and definitely not on lining up interviews elsewhere.
Business is business. Anything done by man can be undone by man.
HP will be able to rehire people they fired if they wanted to, for the right price of course. Maybe some people with huge egos will refuse the offer (thinking they're too good to "crawl back" to HP), but... well, good luck in finding work in THIS economy.
Skilled IT workers are among the most indemand personnel these days.
Also...I can list many things done by men that can be undone according to the laws of nature. May want to add an asterisk to that maxim.
yeah that's always been the problem. HP is boring, their products are pretty boring, and they never made good mobile product so i had no faith in them when they bought webos. Not surprised they failed. But it's HP. They've been slowly declining for many years now.
On the bright side, at least if HP falls, maybe we can see webOS sold to a better company that will make it shine!
Indeed. This would aide webOS success further if a manufacturing firm such as HTC, LG, Dell, Lenovo, can facilitate the distribution of new webOS devices consumers expect and demand.
With the Windows 8 ripoff "web OS"of webOS, similar to the XAML ripoff of Mozilla's XUL, developers may put their resources toward the desktop OS leader, rather than the scrappy new kid.
in six months she will hold a press conferance to state she will focus on PC and spin off the enterprise stuff. and in 9 month she fill be fired.
they need someone who can do both and doesnt have a pre conceived notion on the company they want to run.
you do have to have a little hope being a wedOS user though. but is she the person to repait the relationship.
and now you have to worry about the men/women running the PC part will they be upset for getting passed over again?
how is bradley feeling about this? mixed?
in 12 months someone will speak to a sales rep at a sprint store and say Sprint will launch the Meg Whitman line of webos phones "in a week."
New webOS phones are new. I don't care if Meg's name is plastered all over the place and her face is the ONLY background I can get on it...
meg's mere presence ends all association with hp for me. that said it was gonna end anyways.
oh, dont worry. Whoever they pick _will_ be an interim ceo. They just dont know it yet!
and yeah, as has been noted by commenters in articles, the 525 PGBU layoffs kinda kills the ability to resurrect webOS.
shes a disaster, ebay & paypal are a bit of a juggernaut so you'd have to be pretty incompetent to ruin that (*cough* skype *cough*), and you can see that from her gubernatorial campaign which was _horrible_.
I'm not speaking about her politics/viewpoints/values, just her campaign, which she funded herself. It was one of those rare exceptions where money didn't win an election. (prop8 actually was another, but the "no on 8" campaign was another good example of a poorly-run campaign, tho they only raised slightly more than the yes squad, with the major LDS money.)
Please get your facts straight.
She oversaw expansion from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue. She acquired Paypal while at the helm, integrating it into ebay as the go to payment method.
And you are focusing on overpaying for Skype? She was a huge business success. She created the juggernaut that you say she ruined. Inaccurate at best.
Great post. Appreciate the facts too. With Ms. Whitman at the helm this juggernaut (love this word-of-the-day) should get the proverbial shot-in-the-arm it finally needs. I say this not in defense of webOS but with this economy, prevent the loss of many more jobs. Gotta stay positive no matter the cost.
I agree. To be honest I actually voted for Meg in the California Governor election, simply because I trusted her ability to turn things around.
I guess then if I wanted an idea of a Meg Whitman's California, I'll want to keep a close eye on Meg Whitman's HP. I thus hope she'll do the right thing.
*cough*ressurectWebOS*cough*
Under her leadership eBay bought Skype for 2.6 billion $ and sold it for 1.8 later.
I'm not really sure if she's the right one for the long-term development.
She also grew it from 30 employees and $4 million in annual revenue to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue.
Sounds like she is the perfect choice to do the same for Palm/webOS. Mark Hurd payed $1.2 billion. Maybe Meg can sell it for $600 million?
And so the countdown begins until Whitman is ousted. Keep in mind that she was brought in by Apotheker in order to help him consolidate his power and her record at eBay is mixed. The HP board should be fired along with Apotheker.
Hi all,
HP is a firm that goes from one extreme to another...they hire someone who lies about his private life and was stupid enough to fudge an expense report they should have rapped him on his knuckles...in stead the fire him...thsi after the last person took over Compaq ran the company into the ground and how can we forget HP's very own production of SYP-GATE...
then the hire someone they've never met whop systematical puts out it's first webOS products without getting the bugs out first over charges for it and then kills off the entire division in 2 monhths...
then he takes a scalpel to the company...
now they hire a very divisive figure who just like her predecessor is a software person only.
The future of computing is mobile....unless Meg hits the ground running webOS which is nearly dead and HP is already on life support will be doomed...
In other words how to ruin a great company in 3 quick lessons...
If the don't revive webOS, sell webOS or license it...what the stockholder will forget the flushed over 1 1/2 BILLION dollars away???
The only smart thing HP did in decades was buy webOS Let's hope it's not to late to save it...
Take care,
Jay
Take care,
Jay
He resigned. He was not fired.
i liked how i got a negative for speaking nothing but the truth. Welcome to precentral. where facts are a negative. lol.
You're truly one of the biggest idiots here at Precentral. I mean that sincerely. I'm surprised they haven't given you a writing gig yet here. You'd fit in well.
Look at that pretty smile!
Timmmmah!!!
Don't like Meg, and putting in a CEO that was brought to the board to bolster the CEO you are booting doesn't sound like good business decisions to me.
webOS fans, it looks like you have your next hero-figure to put on a pedestal and later thrash when they inevitably let you down.
Meg Whitman - join the club: Jon Rubinstein, Matias Duarte, Rahul Sood, Ed Colligan, that HP guy with the flexible film screen, Leo Apothecker, Mark Hurd, Ben and Dion, etc.
Will she try to revive webOS? Not a chance. The assessment from HP was that catching up to Apple and Android in the smartphone & tablet race would take too much time and money - neither of which HP has.
They are going to have to go through with the acquisition of that European software company probably without spinning off the hardware business for cash. That means massive cost cutting, layoffs, and raising capital. They have even less room for profitless revenue than they did six months ago.
There will be no five-year investment in webOS. It will probably be liquidated to a Chinese tablet knockoff maker.
Oh stop being a pessimist! :P
But seriously, my experiences with Apple during its annus horribilis of 1997 was that things ALWAYS turn around for the better, no matter how long it'll take. If Meg doesn't so it, someone else will.
The way I look at it is.... ALL of HP can't be 100% against webOS. And certainly not ALL of the people at HP who hold all the power. webOS will get turned around... even if it won't be AS good as it once was, it'll certainly be better than what is CURRENTLY is. And if it can be better by a little in a year, then who's to say it can't be five times "a little better" over five years?
I've waited fourteen years to see my beloved Apple Computers, Inc. to become the number one company in the world. I'm just as willing to wait as long as I need to to see webOS be one of the top mobile operating systems on the market. It simply needs a lot of time and TLC, and a company that is willing to ensure their stockholders that they didn't just waste $1.2 billion on it.
First off, the tab is WAY beyond $1.2 billion.
Second, Apple is a software/UX company. That's their DNA. HP is not a WebOS company. It's something that they acquired that they can and have done away with on a whim. It's NOT comparable.
Third, no one at HP has to be "against" WebOS for it to die. They just have to against pouring billions into the consumer space when there is no scenario for profitability. It will devolve to enterprise-centric solution software that requires a fraction of the overhead and that will be the end of it.
In case you forgot, the main person running around talking about being a "cool" company and being like Apple is about to be shown the door. You really think they're going to bet the company on that mission AGAIN?
If Meg is in, then Congratulations are in order.
All we can hope for now is that she steer this bloody ship on course with a steady hand.
I weigh judgement on her handling of webOS until she and her (new) board of directors chimes in with their business model for the near future.
Peace.
Humm, my post was deleted..Why ??
No one deleted it here. Might have found a bug. Try again.
there's some sort of bug that causes new posts not to show until you completely close your browser and open it again... just refreshing the page does nothing, nor does opening a new tab. Interestingly making a new post will sometimes make your previously missing posts show up, until you leave the comments page and then come back.
case in point, my post above showed just after I posted it, but then I went back to the precentral main page and then returned to this article to find not only my post, but the entire thread gone. So I closed my browser, then came back to this article and now they're all here.
In turn, this post will be gone if I leave this page and come back to it without restarting my browser.
and no, it isn't "just my computer"... it works this way from several computers in several locations with different versions of IE. I suppose it probably doesn't do this on Firefox, but I have zero interest in other browsers.
The same thing happened to me. Just Refresh your browser then click the Comments link beneath the story heading. Good Luck. Peace.
refreshing and clicking links does nothing for me. I ALWAYS have to close the browser before any new comments (mine or anyone elses) will show up.
What browser are you posting from? Sounds like a glitch combined with a possible cache issue.
as I said, IE. But this is from multiple computers in multiple locations with multiple versions of IE (well, 8 and 9 at least, don't think I have any 7's around any more). Right now I'm on my wife's office computer running win7/IE8. same behavior on my home computer running win7/IE9, and on my own office computer running win7/IE8. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened on the XP laptop I used while on vacation recently, and also notice the same effect when I access precentral from any client's computer at their office.
No, I don't care to use another browser.
Not having the problem on FireFox 4
I'm surprised nobody's commenting on Tim's 'tongue-in-cheek' use of "in the coming days....".
I guess it's because he didn't say 'coming weeks' or 'coming months'.
Although I hope I'm wrong, I fear it's too late for our beloved WebOS. Regardless, I'm glad to see that HP read Derek's article about Leo and is doing something about it! ( http://www.precentral.net/hp-has-neither-balls-nor-brains-1 )
as a Californian who watched Meg Whitman's campaign slowly implode and deliver to us yet another unwelcome dose of Moonbeams, the news that she may be made CEO of HP doesn't fill me with either hope or joy.
ditto. she's pretty much a teaparty nutter. Her appointment would drive me away from HP faster then hp selling me a defective laptop but refusing to replace it already did.
meg whitman? tea party? you have got to be kidding. whitman lost because she was unwilling to take a stand on anything, said whatever would please the audience she was speaking to at the moment, and appeared to have no core beliefs. every californian knew whatever she said about any issue wouldn't mean **** once she got elected, and that she'd essentially just be a re-hash of arnold. while teaparty 'nutters' as you say get a lot of bad press because the media and establishment are terrified of them, they do take a stand, have core values, and say what they believe even if it gets them bad press. even in Commifornia, an honest teaparty 'nutter' could have beaten old Moonbeam.
yeah they take a wonderfully racist anti mexican stand. One she wonderfully parroted until she got caught with an undocumented housekeeper. And no tea party fool would win outside of Orange county, maybe san diego and the barely populated parts of california. But they have no chance in LA county, San Francisco country, Contra Costa, Alameda, and the rest of the place that carry the state. And a tea party person has to beat Jerry Brown not Meg. That's the problem.
Well, despite watching her implode on the statewide stage, I still voted for her for governor. Maybe someone like her is better suited for a position that doesn't involve poor people bugging her for their welfare checks. Er, that is, she's not into public service and prefers to work for something where the only people she needs to appeal are the ones who actually purchase her product.
Only time will tell, I suppose.
Hurd = let's be like Apple
Leo = let's be like IBM
Whitman = let's be like _____?
Can't wait....
well HP/Palm products are already all over ebay...
Whitman = let's be like HP
At least, that's what I'm hoping.
I personally would like to know how she voted regarding the decision to spin off the PSG and discontinue WebOS hardware development, before I can form a rational opinion on her.
On the surface, she has CEO experience, but, NOT for a hardware based company, and HP is clearly and undeniably a hardware company (printers and PC's provide a predomination of their annual revenue).
The fact that the BOD never met with LA prior to appointing him, and expereinced tons of "infighting" wreaks, however, of a BOD without any real direction or leadership.
They all need to go, post haste, IMO.
"HP is clearly and undeniably a hardware company (printers and PC's provide a predomination of their annual revenue)"
This is far from the truth and is exactly what consumers perceive. HP's Server, Services and Software make up 48% of their total revenue and 58% of their total earnings on avg. IPG(printers) and PSG(PCs) make up 49% of their total revune and only 40% of earnings. The rest is in Financial Services. We are looking at a complany that is split equally in revenue between PC and Printer hardware and software/services/servers. The perception is HP is simply a consumers PC/Printer company when in fact they rely heavily on their revenue and even more so on their earnings in the software/services/servers divisions! 2.3 Billion in earnings (avg) per quarter for these divisions.
I said "revenue", you cite earnings.
:)
The ARE a predominantly hardware company, revenue wise, as that is what keeps the company in existence.
Earnings is all about profit and that is something completely different.
I'm hoping she delegates these details down to her senior vice presidents. That is, "whatever you want to do, I'll approve it". This, versus what Leo did was try to mold THE ENTIRE COMPANY in his own image.
Basically, a "hands OFF" approach.
I don't think I've seen such an ugly woman in a long time... good thing she is rich.
She certainly hasn't blown her way up the ladder... So she must be smart...
I feel so wrong for laughing at this, but damn, that is funny.
She'll be a puppet for the board of directors. She probably won't have much control. HP has a poor track record with CEOs in the past 10 years.
"Shut up, Meg" That's all I can think about.
Even if just because we feel a sense of vindication, this is good news. It will be interesting to see what Whitman decides to do. She seems to be smart and I like the fact that she's married to a surgeon. She built a business that was driven by focusing on consumers. So, maybe she'll actually have some ability to figure out what products people want to buy. The irony can't be lost that ebay may actually be the most successful vendor of the TouchPad.
I suspect that it will be awhile before we hear anything about the future of webOS. She may actually want to talk to the people who were involved with running and developing it before making decisions about it.
The only thing we have to worry about is if she see Russell Brand continuing to talk about the TP as the webOS Butler.... And then fire it and denying any relationship with it because it doesn't have the proper citizenship papers... "TouchPad, I don't know you, and you don't know me..."
i'm pissed at the sexist comments in this forum regarding Meg's looks. Really? Really?? How old are those of you who are making those remarks? So, shall we then run down male businessmen based on their looks? I could go on. I expect a high level of intelligence from this forum. Those of you who still live in high school in their head may kindly opt out of commenting.
I know, its horrid, but, he lowest common denominator always tends to show itself.
My advice: ignore them and comment on the constructive stuff - this way, they dont get the attention that they really do NOT deserve.
:)
Timmmmah!
I'm offended by your racist screen name "Wahoo"!
lighten up Francis! ... and PCGuy
I prefer to treat everyone like the human beings that they are. Meg Whitman is another human being, and whether or not I approve of her as CEO has nothing to do with whether it says M or F on Meg's driver's license.
For the record, while I think there may be someone better than Meg as HP CEO, I certainly am NOT against seeing her as HP CEO, especially considering how much of a short term replacement this is.
How about getting a real tech guy on the leadership chair?
And stop thinking short term.
How about making an effort instead of cutting all the time...
How about quality both in hardware and software?
How about asking the market what it wants? Meaning asking your customers why they go bite the Apple...
And one more thing: If you announce anything. For real, deliver it the next week. Just deliver it and read your marketing books again...
Not sure of Meg Whitman, they should just put Tom Bradley as CEO and be done with it.
Anyone is better than Apotheker at this point.
funny how one ceo (jobs) can be so good and then another (leo) is just 100% shite.
Reminds me of the universal rule:
For every hottie there is the equal and opposite nottie.
WoW all these predictions about webOS... DOES EVERYONE here have a WIJI BOARD app? Or what!
Never saw so many experts in one place. Let the chips fall where they may and hopefully most of us come out ok! I have my 2 TP'S and a Pre-. No opinions just a lot of hope!
Is that an App on a Nintendo Wii?
Finally getting rid of Leo... I still dont understand how they thought he was the guy for the job when he couldnt do it at SAP! I don't think Meg is the right person for the job though. Anyway, still not too late for HP to save face. I'm a big WebOS fan but its too late for WebOS with HP... Hopefully they will have the where-with-all to sell it, license it, do something constructive with it. WebOS' problem was hardware. TouchpadGO, if you can believe the pictures, had the possibility to make a splash. There's got to be thousands of them sitting somewhere. Spin off PSG and let them release the TPGO...
If the Touchpad comes back it needs to trim down, change materials, 1.7 ghz processor, WebOS 3.3 on it (and all the fixes that implies), hw graphics acceleration, a rear cam, gps and still be at least $150 less than an iPad2.
Pre3 was a band aid phone. They need something like the Droid Bionic 4G like yesterday.
Getting a new CEO (who is no winner and another Ray Lane cloud is king devotee) and then doubling down on a failed design and pricing strategy would be foolish.
it's about time for a change...board should be replaced also. Where have they been during also these ridiculous things that have been going on at HP???
Hopefully some things will be reversed or re-instated.
Just another prolonged wait for us webos fans......
I could not care less about what HP will suffer at Whitman's hands (I'm pretty sure that webOS has no real future at HP). At least the job may keep her out of politics.
Well, while I disagree and feel that EVERYTHING has a future, I do at least share your feelings that having Meg at HP will definitely keep her out of politics. The last thing I want to see her be like is another Al Gore, who spent more than my tolerance of the Dubya era saying "if *I* were president (and I was), I would have done THIS instead of what Bush did". That got old REALLY quick.
After hps huge purchase last month, hp no longer has the cash for webos to be successful.
Is the purchase finalized? Or is it still in the "we're most likely going to do it but we're still waiting to actually sign the paperwork and thus haven't technically bought them yet" stage?
WOW! I was just just thinking last week I would love to see him go. This is really great news now maybe someday I can part ways with my Android phone and come back to webOS. :-)
Meg gets credit during a time when every CEO which ran a "internet" start-up company had overwhelming success. It was a can't miss time, when the world ignored the obvious inflated bubble. She actually made some very bad missteps later in her career.
She is a Celebrity CEO, and will not fair well.
everyone, including Meg is entitled to drop the ball, you can not have one slam dunk after another. Leo on the other hand, just burned down the basketball court. is she the cure for webos? who knows. I will say this, spend less on the russel crows and such,, and hammer out the damn name over and over again,, HP touch pad HP touch pad.... i am in marketing,, its called TOP OF MIND AWARENESS.. at its simple, right now people refer to all tablets as Ipads,,, time for a change... there needs to be print, billboards, broadcast of all sorts.. and lots and lots of it..
saying that,, to be honest, i would not be surprised at all if Meg continues with the shut down and spin off of webos hardware and the pc division, not surprised at all..
Is that a dude with a wig? Or did somebody photo shop this pic? Or did they take a picture of this woman standing in front of a clown mirror? Just asking! =)
On a more serious note, I hope whoever is elected the position rejuvenates the hardware production. If not then we can almost bet HP will fold soon. The consumer( me and everyone else that is a fan of webOS) probably won't spend another dime with HP if this isn't in the future. As a community we should make a pledge to do so. I mean I feel at home hear and the fact that have essentially played us, has got me feeling, well, a little scorned.
Just a little rant but definitely a feeling that I'm sure a lot people share. I mean think about it, they released the flagship phone on a whole other continent! SMHH (the second H is for hard)!!!!!!!!!