Aside from commenting that HP has “lost its soul” in a recent interview with Bloomberg, HP CEO Leo Apotheker also said his company will put webOS on every PC it ships.
Apotheker says he wants to make better use of webOS, the mobile platform HP gained when it acquired Palm last year for $1.2 billion. He said PCs that ship with webOS would also have the ability to run Microsoft’s Windows OS as well.
HP recently introduced the Pre 2, the company’s first HP-branded smartphone since acquiring Palm, as well as the HP Touchpad, a new tablet device. The company says it hopes to differentiate its printers and PCs through the creation of unique webOS apps. HP has already rolled out a line of printers that allow users to print from their mobile phones.
HP saw total revenues rise 4 percent to $32.3 billion for the first quarter of the company’s fiscal 2011, the first full quarter since Apotheker took over from the company’s previous CEO, Mark Hurd.
Investors were concerned with HP’s second- quarter revenue estimates of approximately $31.4 billion to $31.6 billion, a GAAP diluted EPS in the range of 99 cents to $1.01. The company expects full-year fiscal 2011 revenue in the range $130 billion to $131.5 billion and GAAP with EPS in the range of $4.46 to $4.54, which was much lower than many analysts had expected.