These are the stories I hate to write about but Hewlett-Packard is cutting roughly 3% of its global workforce, which should result in about 9,000 people losing their jobs.
According to the Associated Press, “the job cuts will result from productivity gains and automation in the data centers, which are clusters of computers that HP’s business customers tap into to store data, run software and perform other tasks.” The move will cost up to $1 billion in charges but it is expected to save the company $500 to $700 million a year eventually.
What does this have to do with mobile? Great question, dear readers. The technology giant is rapidly looking for new growth areas as the profits for computers and printers shrink and mobile is undoubtedly the future for one of the world’s largest tech companies. That’s why it plans to spend $1.2 billion to buy Palm and it will “double down” on webOS.
The deal with Palm isn’t expected to close until later this summer but we already have signs that “HPalm” will hit the ground running. The much-vaunted “Slate” tablet could be revived as the “Hurricane,” and this device could hit as early as the third quarter if you believe the rumors. The success of Apple’s iPad shows that the tablet space is appealing to the mainstream and I can’t wait to get my hands on one that has a camera, USB ports and Palm’s sexy operating system.
Tablets are nice but its still a niche market with a limited audience, especially compared to phones. We still don’t know when we can expect a strong smartphone from Palm and HP, nor do we know what branding it will have. This uncertainty may also hurt the platform in the long run, as we’ve already seen a prominent webOS UI designer jump to Google to revamp Android’s interface. The mobile space is going to be the future of computing, so I guess it’s better for HP and Palm to get it right than to get it right now.
[Via The Associated Press]