Good Bye, H-P
Just a brief update.
Apparently, H-P is going to ditch WebOS and spin off their PC business. If you're here, you've been to the innertubes and you probably already knew that.
They're spinning off the PC business because the profit margins are pathetic, particularly when compared with Apple's margins. That isn't unique to H-P. All the PC makers have to compete on price because they build commodities. Commodities are things like oil, wheat, pork bellies and frozen concentrated orange juice. Differentiating one brand of wheat from another in order to charge a significantly higher price is damned difficult.The same is true of computers that are feature identical.
It has been said that Apple is building Intel boxes now, so they're in the same boat. Not true. Apple has OS X and superior industrial design. Apple has the Mac App Store and a multiple-device ecosystem. Apple has a retail presence that is the envy of not just the tech industry; Apple Stores are the standard against which all retail is measured. Now Apple is adding iCloud, making them the first company to define and implement the cloud for the end user.
I saw an analyst on the innertubes today suggest that Apple should buy Nokia. The reasoning was that Apple would get Nokia's patents and eliminate a competitor.
Not necessary.
H-P has started the ball rolling. That will cause the worm to turn; the floodgates will open and the dominoes will tumble. Then a lot of pundits will be all wet and wondering where the hell all the dominoes and worms came from.
The largest PC company is getting out of the business. They're spinning off a barely profitable arm of the company. It won't be long before other companies start to see the silliness of staying in a barely profitable business.
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