hewlett-packard

Apple iPad breaks HP's hold on top PC spot

Apple is out-shipping traditional PC vendors by a wide margin on the back of strong iPad sales, a marketing research firm has found.

In the fourth quarter, Apple became the leading worldwide client PC vendor by shipping more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Macs, representing 17 percent of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in the fourth quarter, according to Canalys.

Hewlett-Packard was a distant No. 2 with about 12.7 percent.

"We're going through the biggest shift the PC industry has seen in 20 years. It's very difficult to grow in the … Read more

Netflix DVDs at death's door?

Hawaii might monitor all Web browsing, a Spotify app takes aim at Pandora, and Netflix's CEO expects DVD subscriber numbers to dwindle every quarter.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Former HP CEO Mark Hurd loses appeal to keep letter sealed

Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard's former CEO and now the current president of Oracle, lost his fight in court this week to keep confidential a letter alleging sexual harassment.

A Delaware court ruled yesterday that Hurd had not established "good cause" to keep the letter under wraps. (Here's the court record uploaded by All Things Digital's Arik Hesseldahl.)

The letter in question is from lawyers representing Jodie Fisher, a sometime actress who worked as a contractor for HP to its board of directors. In the letter, she accuses Hurd of harassment that occurred from 2007 to 2009. … Read more

HP firmware to 'mitigate' LaserJet vulnerability

Hewlett-Packard said today that it has taken steps to prevent a "certain type of unauthorized access" to LaserJet printers.

The company didn't describe its new firmware as a fix for the potential printer problem. Rather, it rather delicately used the word "mitigate," the dictionary definition of which is "to make less severe or painful." Here's HP's full statement on the matter:

HP has built a firmware update to mitigate this issue and is communicating this proactively to customers and partners. No customer has reported unauthorized access to HP. HP reiterates its … Read more

HP TouchPad set to go on sale today for $99

Hewlett-Packard is slated to officially put its discontinued TouchPad tablet up for sale one last time today for $99 and $149.

Update: Some readers are claiming that the unit has sold out already and that the eBay server has been responding slowly.

HP is putting its short-lived TouchPad tablet up for sale on eBay at $99 and $149 for the 16GB and 32GB versions, respectively, according to an HP internal memo first published by TechCrunch.

As CNET reported earlier, there will be a few catches, however. Probably the most significant is that the offer will go exclusively to HP employees … Read more

HP tosses WebOS out of frying pan into the open-source fire

Hewlett-Packard's decision to release WebOS as open-source software doesn't bode well for the future of the project.

There are two common outcomes when companies convert a complicated proprietary project into open-source software. One is that a vibrant community of contributors grows up around the project, expanding its abilities, broadening its popularity, and making it into a better component of a broader technology package.

The other is that the project, tossed over its sponsor's transom, sinks beneath the waves.

I think HP would like the first outcome based on Chief Executive Meg Whitman's high hopes: "By … Read more

HP to reveal WebOS decision tomorrow?

It seems we may finally know the fate of Hewlett-Packard's WebOS unit.

HP has scheduled a companywide meeting for 10:30 a.m. PT tomorrow, during which CEO Meg Whitman is expected to reveal what the company intends to do with the troubled mobile operating system, according to a PreCentral.net report.

HP representatives declined to comment.

An announcement on the unit's fate was expected in early November, but Whitman delayed the decision, saying, "It's really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision."

The mobile platform's future has been … Read more

Former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn dies, WSJ reports

Patricia Dunn, the former chairman of Hewlett-Packard who resigned five years ago after acknowledging she approved a plan to spy on board members and journalists, has died, according to a published report.

William Jahnke, Dunn's husband, confirmed her death in an interview with The Wall Street Journal today and later said that Dunn died Sunday of ovarian cancer. She was 58.

HP provided a statement: "Pattie Dunn worked tirelessly for the good of HP. We are saddened by the news of her passing, and our thoughts go out to her family on their loss."

Dunn is likely … Read more

HP recruiting EU in its Itanium fight against Oracle

Hewlett-Packard is calling in reinforcements from Europe to help it in its latest battle against Oracle.

The PC maker has asked European Union antitrust officials to investigate whether Oracle acted improperly by ending support for Intel's Itanium microprocessor, according to Reuters.

In June, HP launched a lawsuit against Oracle, alleging that the database giant's decision to stop making software for Itanium was simply an attempt to drive business away from HP and toward Oracle. Oracle had announced in March that it would no longer develop software for the chip. But HP has been heavily invested in using Itanium … Read more

HP surprisingly emerges as No. 2 tablet maker

At least for now, Hewlett-Packard can lay claim as the second most-popular tablet manufacturer behind Apple.

Too bad, it'll be a short-lived reign.

Despite all of the attention focused on Apple's iPad, other tablet makers have seen some adoption this year. In total, the U.S. tablet market--excluding Apple--saw sales of more than 1.2 million units and retail revenue of $415 million from January through October, according to a new study from NPD. HP stood on top of that non-iPad hill, closely followed by Samsung Electronics.

Of course, the market is still tiny when compared with Apple, … Read more