HP confirmed that it has started workforce reductions in what remains of its webOS group and Palm smartphone business. More than 500 staff members face layoffs.
The
fallout from the bombastic
Aug.
18 Hewlett-Packard corporate strategy left turn is beginning to take shape
in the form of real effects on people.
HP
confirmed Sept. 20 that it has started workforce reductions in what remains of
its
webOS
group and Palm smartphone business. Several staff members already have left
on their own volition; more than 500 are expected to lose their jobs
involuntarily in the next few days.
The
Personal Systems Group, which also is
being
decimated by the new corporate plan, is expected to be next up for the
chopping block.
An
HP spokesperson sent this memo to
eWEEK:
"As communicated on August 18, 2011, HP will discontinue the development
of webOS devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ends Oct.
31, 2011. As part of this decision, the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in
workforce. Today's actions are part of this initiative.
"During
this time, we stand by our commitments to our webOS customers and will work to
ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected. HP is
exploring ways to leverage webOS software."
HP Dropped Some Early Hints
HP
offered a clue to its future plans back on July 11, when it
transferred
webOS division head Jon Rubinstein to the Personal Systems Group a mere
five months after a
splashy
media event introducing the webOS-run HP TouchPad and the Pre and Veer
smartphones. HP replaced Rubinstein with Stephen DeWitt only about a month
after the TouchPad and the new phones hit the stores.
Perhaps
another early indication of change was when one of the lead Palm Pre designers,
Peter Skillman,
left
HP immediately after then-CEO Mark Hurd was asked to leave HP in August
2010.
Former
SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker, who eventually replaced Hurd as HP's chief executive in November
2010, was known as a software advocate with no experience in the mobile world;
this was another-albeit more apparent-clue as to HP's long-term plans, one that
was discussed long and hard in the IT media.
A
former Apple employee who contributed significantly to the Apple iPod and iMac,
Rubinstein was named CEO of Palm in June 2009, just days after the successful
launch of the Palm Pre. HP then bought Palm in April 2010 for $1.2 billion, and
Rubinstein, naturally, moved to HP. Rubinstein now answers to HP Executive Vice
President Todd Bradley in the PSG, but the future doesn't look so good there
right now.
At
this point, no one knows what HP will do with the webOS and personal systems IP
and facilities-the main ones are located in Houston and in Northern California.
HP has indicated that it is considering licensing deals and perhaps an outright
sale of webOS.
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Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz
