Latest Developments from HP
December has been one of the busiest months in 2011 for technology giant Hewlett Packard (HP). The Palo Alto company, which boasts more than 300,000 employees and over a billion customers around the world, was selected as the primary Information Technology (IT) provider for the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in the city of Durban in South Africa. The equipment provided by HP for the conference included standard mobile and desktop computing hardware such as servers, workstations, printers, laptops, and peripherals. According to a press release from the company, HP’s commitment to sustainability was the primary factor why it was chosen by the South African government to provide its tech services at the significant conference.
Consumer
On the consumer front, HP announced that its proprietary mobile operating system WebOS will soon be in the hands of the open source community. WebOS development began ink2009 by Palm, Inc., better known as the hardware maker that revolutionize the world of personal computing with the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices. When HP acquired Palm in 2010, it made a commitment to carry on the development of WebOS. HP intended to make the mobile OS platform standard across all its hardware devices. The HP TouchPad tablet computer was the flagship product that the company intended to showcase WebOS. The lukewarm reception of the TouchPad is thought to have been behind HP’s decision to discontinue production and contribute WebOS as open source.
Business
On the small and medium business front, HP launched two new promotions aimed at companies that wish to acquire IT equipment without being forced to dip into precious cash reserves. The new promotions are available to business owners in the United States and Canada through HP’s own Financial Services arm. The first promotion is being marketed as 1-2-3. It is a 36-month lease program that starts off with very low monthly payments during the first three months. Payments gradually increase in small steps after the fourth month and later again at the seventh month. Participating businesses can take advantage of a purchase option at the end of the lease term, something that could prove advantageous due to the new cloud computing paradigm which does not require as many hardware updates as the old client-server model.
Financial Services
The second small business promotion offered by HP Financial Services involves a payment holiday. The 90 Day Deferral program allows businesses to enter a 36 month lease program without having to worry about making payments for the first three months. Both 1-2-3 and 90 Day Deferral programs will be in effect until the end of January 2012.
Small Enterprises
On the small enterprise front, HP has partnered with cloud computing firm Box to offer small and medium sized companies a solid storage and online collaboration platform. The purchase of an HP Compaq 6200 Pro Series or 8200 Elite Series desktop computers will entitle customers to a free Box account with different storage and file sharing capabilities. The young CEO of Box, Aaron Levie, recently discussed the future of cloud computing with The Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital publication. The 26-year old Levie, who is one year younger than Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is deeply committed to helping companies such as HP teach their customers about the joys of being connected to the cloud and cutting the cord.