hewlett-packard

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman came out swinging in today's earnings conference call.

"We are under attack by very strong competitive pressures and we are going to respond," Whitman said when asked by an analyst about the PC business.

The company will respond with "two tablets, if you will, combined with laptops for the consumer space," according to Whitman.

This is in addition to the Windows 8 business tablet that HP has already discussed (see photo above).

She added that HP has "one of the best product lineups we've had in the PC business … Read more

HP saw revenue declines in four of its six units due to economic "headwinds" and ongoing restructuring efforts, the company said. Oh, and it also reported an $8.9 billion net loss for the third quarter.

In other words, HP is "still in the early stages of a multi-year turnaround," said HP CEO Meg Whitman.

HP's third quarter results came in largely as expected. HP telegraphed that it would take hefty charges related to its enterprise services unit.

Meanwhile, HP cut its fiscal 2012 outlook. The company said its non-GAAP earnings would be $4.05 … Read more

Ahead of its third-quarter earnings Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard is virtually absent in tablets, one of the hottest device markets today. And its fresh entry into the market will face an entrenched iPad ecosystem at businesses.

There's no guarantee that HP's upcoming Windows 8 Pro tablet aimed at corporate enterprise customers will stop the iPad's march into businesses, according to Rhoda Alexander at IHS iSuppli.

"It is the established leader in all of the markets. It has more of a reach into business, into education than its competitors," Alexander said, referring to the iPad. "The consistency … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is apparently diving back into the consumer tablet business.

The company is apparently developing a new Mobility unit to concentrate on consumer tablets, says an internal memo first published by the Verge. An HP representative confirmed the memo's authenticity, though he declined to comment on its substance. The memo is the work of Todd Bradley, head of the company's Printing and Personal Systems Group.

Beyond handling tablets, the new mobility unit will also be responsible for "additional segments and categories where we believe we can offer differentiated value to our customers," according to the memo. … Read more

Toshiba will join Hewlett-Packard in passing on the first round of tablets based on the RT versions of Windows 8.

This follows the confirmation Monday from Microsoft that Dell, Samsung, and Lenovo will debut tablets and/or convertibles (Asus has already announced its) based on the version of the Windows 8 that runs on ARM chips.

That RT version cannot run the vast library of software written for Intel-based "x86" PCs, though it will have a version of Microsoft Office.

"Toshiba has decided not to introduce Windows RT models due to delayed components that would make a … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is losing its battle with Apple and Samsung because of a lack of focus and strong products in key segments, an analyst said in a research note today.

After Meg Whitman took over the CEO spot, HP's pitch to financial analysts has been that it can succeed as both a corporate and consumer computing company, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich wrote in research note cited by MarketWatch.

But it's not turning out that way, with the stock now hovering below $20. "HP is...being attacked in enterprise computing by focused goliaths like IBM and EMC and in … Read more

Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Lenovo, among others, are expected to bring out Windows 8 tablets using Intel's latest system-on-a-chip.

HP and Acer are working on designs, a source familiar with the vendors' plans told CNET. In addition, details leaked today about a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which will also use Intel's Clover Trail system-on-a-chip (SoC).

These Intel-based Windows 8 designs are distinctly different from Windows RT tablets that will use ARM chips. Windows RT devices use a version of Windows 8 that does not offer backward-compatibility with the millions of existing Windows software programs. Intel-based systems offer that compatibility. … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is having a tough time fulfilling orders for its newest high-end ultrabook.

That would be the Envy Spectre XT, a 13-inch, three-pound, sub-0.7-inch-thick laptop sporting a mostly metal design and Intel's newest "Ivy Bridge" processors.

The model, announced in early May, had been expected to ship as early as June 8 but orders have been backlogged.

"HP Envy SpectreXT orders are taking longer to fulfill than HP expected," an HP spokesperson told CNET. "We are contacting all customers who have placed orders to provide updated expected delivery dates."

An order for … Read more

Dell, which still generates a slight majority of its revenue from PCs, isn't really in the PC business anymore.

So says founder and CEO Michael Dell, who spent a majority of his time at a conference hosted by Fortune today speaking about corporate servers, storage, networking, security, and IT services -- anything, basically, but the PC business.

"In the last five years, we really made a concerted shift to end-to-end IT services," Dell said.

He calls it the "new Dell," a shift away from the PC business as the technology industry embraces the notion of … Read more