Hewlett Packard: Misunderstood for 2012?
December 26, 2011
Now that Autonomy, one of my all-time favorite search vendors, is part of Hewlett Packard, I feel obligated to pay attention to the ink vendor. Oh, I know you may think HP is more than ink, but I learned that HP ink is worth more than diamonds or gold when you have a gallon of the stuff in those nifty cartridges.
HP generated in 2010 about $120 billion. IBM, by way of contrast, generated about $100 billion in 2010 and will nose closer to $120 billion when its 2011 fiscal year closes. HP is big, diversified, and the proud owner of Autonomy. The deal was worth about $11 billion which is nearly 10 percent of HP’s 2011 revenues. I would not ignore Autonomy, but that’s what happened in “Hewlett-Packard Isn’t Looking Forward to Next Year, Either.” The write up from the Motley Fool, which is certainly no silly goose, asserted:
Even though Whitman nixed most of her predecessor’s moves, she agrees with Leo Apotheker in that HP needs to focus more on software in the coming year, competing more directly with other enterprise-software giants such as IBM (NYSE: IBM ) and Oracle(Nasdaq: ORCL ) . She decidedly doesn’t want to transform HP into a software company, as Apotheker was clearly trying to do, but rather wants to build up the software segment as a complement for customers. Whitman has her work cut out for her but has admitted that 2012 is not the year that HP investors should be looking forward to. The mobile revolution is going to be huge. But just because HP left early, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out. We’ve just released a brand-new, 100% free report that details one stock that is in an enviable position powering the mobile Trillion-Dollar Revolution from the inside, while also having exposure to China’s red-hot growth.
Ah, ha. the article is not really about HP, Autonomy, or the price challenge HP will face from outfits like Google. The Motley Fool, which is no fool, is using the HP story to market a report. I don’t have much of a problem with a free report, but I do wish, some of the smart folks would pay attention to Autonomy and the financial potential it may deliver to HP. I just wrote about Aurasma, Autonomy’s augmented reality technology in my Information Today column for February 2012. I think the idea of putting Autonomy technology in printers is interesting, but there are some aspects of Autonomy that warrant its inclusion in HP write ups. I am fascinated with mobile, Ms. Whitman, and enterprise hardware, but there are some more interesting topics to explore. That’s the difference between a fool and a goose I suppose.
Stephen E Arnold, December 25, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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