Slashdot Mirror
HP Begins Laying Off WebOS Developers, Potentially Firing CEO
MrCrassic writes "Looks like it might be the beginning of the end for webOS presence at HP, as The Register announced that they laid off 525 webOS developers." From the article: "HP is laying off up to 525 staff from its global webOS hardware biz, according to reports. The tech titan confirmed last month it is shuttering the unit that produced the ill-fated TouchPad and Pre3 devices. 'As communicated on 18 August, HP will discontinue the development of webOS devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ends 31 Oct 2011,' an HP spokesperson told AllThingsD in the US."
So far it looks like just the hardware designers are being let go. The HP board happens to be meeting today, possibly to discuss firing the current CEO for failing to improve the company's financial prospects.
...that nothing they do makes any sense.
This is exactly what they said they would do a month ago. They have been quite clear going forward, they would continue work on webOS itself, just not webOS hardware. So I don't see how this is the "end" of webOS at HP, it's the same thing they've been saying for a month now.
"Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
I have a feeling the bean counters have taken over completely at HP. Engineers are a cost center. Get rid of engineers. Software developers are a cost center. Get rid of software developers. Since no one in the US is willing to work for 7 cents per hour, all manufacturing takes place in China. Sell the buildings that used to contain engineers and software developers. HP will then consist of CXO's on the top floor of one building, with the next floor dedicated to bean counters, and the main floor for overseas operations (bean counters never consider themselves to be a cost center). Its easier to outsource operations, so the overseas operations will be 'rent-a-plant', and since that also includes 'rent-an-engineer', everything but the head office will be overseas. Next to go is the bottom floor. Sell to the overseas manufacturer, give the top two floors a cushy severance, and wind that baby down. Its not like Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard are around anymore. The founding engineers are gone. The glory days of the company were when the founders founded it, and ran it for the first 20 years. The next 20 years saw growth, but not quite so much glory for new hires. The next 20 years saw new managers come in when the founding engineers retired but oversaw things. Things got more corporate. Still an ok company to work for, but not great. The founders die, more management changes (bean counters take over). Bill Hewlett died in 2001, David Packard died in 1996. What Bill and Dave started, Carly and others have done a great job killing. I give them at the outside 10 more years, but something in my head says they will be dead in less than 5. HP joins Sun.
Cringely saw this one coming a long time away... ok, maybe 7 months isn't so long:
http://www.cringely.com/2011/02/why-leo-apotheker-will-be-fired-from-hewlett-packard/
Does HP really want to give up that long-term cash flow to go chase its dreams?
In a word, yes. In three words, oh hell yes.
PC hardware is a commodity market and it's a mess. The upside that anyone can build a PC these days is a double edged sword, because just about anyone can build a PC these days, and the ones that do it the cheapest are the ones who win out. Margins are razor thin. High end desktops are a rare purchase. Mid-range desktops are only sold mostly to businesses when they don't need a laptop. Laptops are losing out to iPads and Macbooks now, which are solid alternatives at comparable prices, AND have better quality on average. HP is not making gobs and gobs of profit on hardware, only Apple, Samsung and HTC seem to be able to do that at the moment. Sure they might bring in $100 million in revenue but it cost like $99 million to make that. The numbers are exaggerated of course but the point is that HP sees that their hardware business is not making as much profit as you think, and it's the profit that's important.
Look, IBM created the PC and it was their cash cow for years. They then established a business consulting branch to encourage people to buy their machines. Then Compaq came along and ate their lunch, and suddenly their cash cow went away. One day, someone realized "holy shit! Our consultants make more money than our hardware does. All we do is contract out the manufacturing work to some other bozo anyway, let's sell hardware and make consulting our new cash cow, and simply tell them to buy whatever hardware we feel like."
What's funny is when IBM did this, similar things happened economically then that are happening now. 2001, the dotcom bubble bursts, 3 years later IBM sells it's hardware to work business to business. 2008, housing market crashes and 3 years later, HP gets out of hardware. In both situations, the average household consumer is hit hard and hurting, median middle class wages are practically stagnant and not keeping up with inflation, but corporate profits continue to rise in both instances.
Follow the money, the money is in businesses paying businesses for business consulting to run their business more. Huge international companies selling to average consumers is folly compared to selling to business these days especially when all the money is in corporations and rich people's pockets (that's not some political slogan, that's just the truth). Sure HP could keep it's hardware, it's probably still profitable over all, but why work so hard at making a little money when you could work half as hard and still make a killing in business consulting?
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"