HP merges computer and printer units
Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday said it is combining its computer and printer units to free up more cash for innovation in the rapidly evolving technology market. HP will combine its Imaging and Printing Group and its Personal Systems Group (PSG) into an entity headed by Tom Bradley, who has been PSG executive vice president since 2005. HP declined to comment when asked whether the corporate reorganisation would result in a cut in its work force. "We have no specific announcements about changes to headcount at this time," an HP spokesman told AFP. The merging of the units comes as growth in the printer market, once a gold mine for the company, slows to a trickle and people increasingly turn to smartphones and tablets for their Internet needs. HP last month reported lower quarterly net profit and revenue as slumping personal computer sales dragged down earnings at the world's largest computer maker. HP chief executive Meg Whitman said in an earnings conference call that the company was "taking the necessary steps to improve execution, increase effectiveness and capitalize on emerging opportunities." Whitman last month told a gathering of entrepreneurs and executives that HP will take another shot at Apple's iPad with the release late this year of a tablet computer geared for work instead of play. The tablet will run on Microsoft Windows 8 software and take on iPad in the workplace, where HP will bank on its reputation and its strengths in providing gear and services to businesses, according to Whitman. "It is not really a tablet market, it is an iPad market," Whitman said at a Wall Street Journal Viewpoints West event in Silicon Valley. HP will release by Christmas a new tablet tailored for security, productivity and business network compatibility, said Whitman.
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