HP to Keep PC Division

So the pendulum swings the other way and HP has decided to keep its PC division.

HP Press Release.

Good for HP, there is no shame in reversing a prior decision – especially one that could have significant repercussions.

It is a little odd that the review under Meg Whitman’s watch (an evaluation of the strategic, financial and operational impact) would have produced a markedly different answer than a similar review presumably conducted a short while ago, but that’s the nature of changing circumstances, different weightings and different agendas.

I just hope that HP, in reevaluating the value of the PC division, decides to fully integrate it into their outsourcing services and provide their customers with a seamless experience (from sourcing through operations) rather than have each HP division treat the other as separate silos.

It will also be interesting to see how HP decides to handle the seemingly growing wave of companies thinking about how to reduce their expenses and reduce/eliminate the gap in the hardware deployed when compared to what their employees use at home. In short, what is the appeal of an enterprise PC compared to a virtual machine run on the employee’s computer of choice in a bring-your-own model?

Let’s just hope that while HP has been playing hokey pokey with their PCs, they’ve also given some thought as to how they can create more value for their customers rather than just continuing on as they were.