Tag: HP

PC Market Not as Bad as Expected During Last Quarter

Though PC shipments in the third quarter of 2013 did decline year-over-year for the sixth straight quarter, it seems that there could be a small silver lining in the numbers. Market research firm IDC today reported that worldwide PC shipment declines were not quite as bad as analysts had predicted.

IDC’s numbers put total worldwide PC shipments during the third quarter at 81.6 million units, a 7.6% drop in shipments from the third quarter of 2012. This total represents a significant improvement on IDC’s third quarter predictions, which saw global PC shipments falling 9.5%. The firm attributes the better-than-expected results to a higher volume of enterprise sales.

“The third quarter was pretty close to forecast, which unfortunately doesn’t reflect much improvement in the PC market, or potential for near-term growth,” said Loren Loverde, VP of Worldwide PC Trackers at IDC. “Whether constrained by a weak economy or being selective in their tech investments, buyers continue to evaluate options and delay PC replacements. Despite being a little ahead of forecast, and the work that’s being done on new designs and integration of features like touch, the third quarter results suggest that there’s still a high probability that we will see another decline in worldwide shipments in 2014.”

iCharts

IDC’s third quarter PC numbers were overall similar to other analysts, showing the the U.S. PC market is doing better than others. PC shipments during the third quarter in the U.S. were down only 0.2%. Also, Lenovo was shown to retain its current place at the top of the PC market, improving its shipments more than 2% over its third quarter 2012 shipments. HP and Dell also saw shipment improvements, while smaller PC manufacturers and Apple saw large declines.

“The United States outperformed many other regions as growth stabilized just under 0%,” said Rajani Singh, senior research analyst for Personal Computers at IDC. “Continuing upgrades from Windows XP boosted shipments, particularly in the commercial desktop segment, while retail acceptance of new and emerging product categories, such as Chromebooks and Ultraslims, helped the portables segment. Nevertheless, the broad picture of the U.S. market has not changed much, with hopes for a small increase in the fourth quarter followed by a challenging 2014.”

(Image courtesy Lenovo)

October 10, 2013
PC Shipments Decline During Back-to-School Season

As expected, PC shipments declined year-over-year during the third quarter of 2013. According to market research firm Gartner, shipments fell 8.6% from last year to only 80.3 million units. Shipments were up from the previous quarter, boosted by back-to-school sales and new offerings.

Though the third quarter numbers represent a sixth consecutive quarterly year-over-year decline in PC shipments, top PC brands did manage to see improvement. Lenovo, which overtook HP in market share the previous quarter is still on top, despite predictions that HP will soon retake its lead. Lenovo improved its global shipments to 14.1 million during the third quarter, a 2.8% increase over 2012. HP also improved its global numbers, raising shipments 1.5% to 13.7 million. Dell was the only other major PC manufacturer to improve year-over-year, increasing shipments 1% to 9.3 million.

“The third quarter is often referred to as the ‘back-to-school’ quarter for PC sales, and sales this quarter dropped to their lowest volume since 2008,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Consumers’ shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets. A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets.”

U.S. PC shipments actually improved over 2012 with a 3.5% increase to 16.1 overall units shipped during the second quarter. All major brands managed to increase shipments in the U.S. except for Apple, which declined 2.3% to only 2.1 million units. Lenovo saw the largest shipment increase in the U.S., shipping nearly 1.7 million units – a 24.6% increase over its 2012 U.S. shipments.

“The positive U.S. results could mean that seasonal strength and channel fill for new product launches in 3Q13 finally overcame the structural decline.” said Kitagawa. “Even though 3Q13 shipments were compared with artificially weak 2Q13 because of inventory control for the Windows 8 launch at the time, the 3Q13 results imply the U.S. market may have passed the worst declining stage, which started in 2010. The shrinking installed base of PCs has also passed the steepest decline phase because the structural change has progressed fairly quickly. Tablets will continue to impact the PC market, but the U.S. PC market will see a more moderate decrease rather than a steep decline in the next two years.”

(Image courtesy Lenovo)

October 10, 2013
Google Announces New Chromebooks For The Holidays

The Chromebook has had a successful year thanks in part to how affordable Google’s notebooks are. It’s hard to argue against a $199 notebook that can do almost everything you would normally do on the Web. Now Google and its partners are ready to continue that momentum with all new Chromebooks.

Google and Intel announced on Wednesday that its manufacturing partners are releasing a number of Chromebooks this holiday season. These new Chromebooks will be equipped with Intel’s new Haswell processors that promise at least twice the battery life over previous Intel CPUs.

Starting with Acer and HP, these preexisting Chromebook partners will be shipping out all new Chromebooks this holiday season. The HP Chromebook 14 is a lot like HP’s previous Chromebook, but it has a little over twice the battery life thanks to the new Haswell CPU.

As for Acer, it’s new Chromebook is also a lot like its previous one. The difference is that it also sports twice the battery life of its previous generation Chromebook while being thinner and weighing less.

Aside from the Acer and HP Chromebooks, Google has also partnered up with Toshiba and Asus to make Chromebooks. We don’t know much about these devices just yet, but Google says that the Toshiba Chromebook is versatile and portable. As for Asus, it’s making a Chromebox – a small computer that can plug and play into any monitor.

Google says it now offers Chromebooks from six of the top notebook manufacturers. That’s something to be proud of as Chromebooks are still relatively new, but have already become one of the best selling computers in the low-price market. It shows that OEMs are increasingly putting more faith in Chromebooks as the traditional notebook market continues to decline.

[Image: Google Chrome Blog]

September 12, 2013
Alcoa, Bank of America, and HP Removed from Dow

Starting September 23, Alcoa, Back of America, and HP will no longer be among the 30 companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The changes “were prompted by the low stock price of the three companies slated for removal and the Index Committee’s desire to diversify the sector and industry group representation of the Index,” according to the Dow Jones Indices. These three companies will be replaced by Nike, Visa, and Goldman Sachs. This is the biggest move of companies in and out of the Dow Jones since 2004, when American International Group, Pfizer Inc, and Verizon Inc. replaced AT&T Inc., Eastman Kodak Co., and the International Paper Company.

When one looks at the math (Unfortunately, that is what one must do in order to understand the stock market, which also happens to be the reason none of us are rich from stock investments. Math… sigh.), it is evident as to why the change was made. HP probably has the biggest argument toward not being removed considering their stock is up 50% this year. However, their overall stock price is down $27 from 2010. Bank of America shares have decreased $35 since 2007, and shares of Alcoa stock have decreased $32 from 2007.

This doesn’t mean that one should sell all their shares of these companies, though. David Blitzer, the managing director of the Dow Jones, stated that “Changing the stocks in an index is not an investment recommendation… It is done to improve the index, to make it a better representation of the market overall.” So while Alcoa, Bank of America, and HP may be being removed from the Dow, it doesn’t mean the companies are dead.

Alcoa means to prove that they are still alive and fighting. The aluminum-producing company, which has been part of the Dow for 54 years, will not let its recent slide bring an end to the company nor deter investors. The reason for Alcoa’s recent demise has to do with the demand for aluminum. While it is true that the United States exports a lot of metal and minerals to China to support their intense technology market, China has lessened its demand for aluminum over recent years by becoming self-sustainable. So where does that leave Alcoa? The aluminum company hopes to abandon the aluminum business in the US soon (where the power it takes to smelt ore is simply too expensive) and instead pursue making lighter-weight components for vehicles. If Alcoa wishes to support another coup in South America, it better hope that it can make the transition soon. (Alcoa has long been linked with supporting the coup attempts of Salvador Allende in Chile during the 1970’s [One probably shouldn’t make allusions when they have to be explained. They might lose effect.])

Image via Twitter

September 10, 2013
HP Reportedly Shipping Fewer Than 21M Notebooks Next Year

The traditional PC market, which includes notebook-style laptops, is in trouble. Sales of PCs have been falling for over one year now, thanks to the rise of the tablet market and the failure of Windows 8. Even HP, the largest PC manufacturer in the world, can see which way the wind is blowing.

DigiTimes today reported that HP will ship only 21 million units during 2014, down from around 32 million units shipped in 2012. The report’s unnamed “upstream supply chain” sources stated that HP is expected to ship fewer than 30 million notebooks this year, and than notebook shipments could drop to fewer than 19 million units by the year 2015.

These lowered shipment expectations, say DigiTimes’ sources, are due to a shift in HP’s entire company focus. What was once the world’s dominant PC manufacturer is now looking to emphasize its enterprise solutions business. In addition, HP has recently seen several executive management shakeups following poor quarterly results throughout 2013.

Total worldwide notebook shipments are expected to drop to 180 million units in 2013, down from 200 million just the year before. HP’s notebook shipments fell 4.8% during the second quarter of 2013, allowing Lenovo to briefly overtake it in shipment volume. This is not predicted to last, however, as HP has recently begun shipping more notebooks for the back-to-school season.

September 9, 2013
Notebook Shipments Picked Up in August

For over one year now, PC shipments have been on the decline. The rise of the tablet market and the failure of Windows 8 contributed to slow holiday 2012 sales and dismal quarters in the first half of 2013. Today a tiny bit of good news hit the traditional PC market, with notebook shipments shown to be on the rise.

DigiTimes Research today reports that notebook shipments from top-5 PC brands grew 22% in August compared to shipments in July. Of course, this relative growth was expected as manufacturers prepared for the back-to-school shopping season. Overall notebook shipments are still expected to be down year-over-year.

The shrinking PC market is also playing havoc with notebook market share. Though HP shipment numbers were overtaken by Lenovo earlier this year, DigiTimes data is showing that HP increased its notebook shipments 50% in August, while Lenovo increased its shipments only 25% month-over-month. HP has been predicted to retake the lead in PC market share later this year, and DigiTimes’ research arm agrees. It cites HP’s new focus on profitability as a driving force for the company’s shipment ramp-up for fall.

The analyst firm also provided a dismal forecast for Dell, which continues to see losses despite lower pricing.

(via DigiTimes)

September 5, 2013
HP Shifts Leadership as Revenue Drops

Along with its third quarter 2013 results, HP this week announced that it is shuffling around its executive management.

The company’s current COO, Bill Veghte will soon be the EVP and general manager of HP’s Enterprise division. According to HP, current Enterprise head Dave Donatelli will “take on a new role focused on identifying early-stage technologies…” HP’s Marketing and Communications divisions are also being combined, and Chief Communications Officer Henry Gomez will head the new division.

HP has been seeking to reassure investors since two bombshell quarterly reports last year – one announcing an $8 billion loss related to its EDS purchase, and another announcing an $8.8 billion impairment charge over what HP claims were fraudulent accounting practices at Autonomy before its purchase. The Autonomy claims in particular have spurred lawsuits from investors and an embarrassing back-and-forth between HP and Autonomy’s former management.

HP’s third quarter 2013 financials were not nearly as dismal as last year’s, though that does not mean much. The company’s revenue was down year-over-year, $27.2 billion this past quarter versus 29.7 billion during the third quarter. The company largely matched earnings predictions, logging 1.4 billion ($0.71 per share) in earnings, which is practically incomparable to 2012’s $8.9 billion loss during the third quarter.

“I remain confident that we are making progress in our turnaround,” Meg Whitman, CEO of HP. “We are already seeing significant improvement in our operations, we are successfully rebuilding our balance sheet, our cost structure is more closely aligned with our revenue and we have reignited innovation at HP, with a focus on the customer.”

August 22, 2013
HP Out-Shipping Lenovo Notebooks For the Year

When this year’s second quarter financial results began to roll in, it became clear that PC shipments, including notebooks, were down for yet another quarter. The only company not largely affected seemed to be Lenovo, which overtook HP as the world’s top notebook manufacturer. Lenovo’s shipments dropped only 0.6% year-over-year, while HP saw a 4.8% notebook shipment decline in the second quarter of 2013. However, as the holiday season approaches, it now appears that predictions of HP’s reclaim of the notebook market are set to come true.

DigiTimes today reported that HP has shipped 23.5 million notebooks during the first 10 months of 2013. This tops Lenovo’s estimated 22 million units shipped so far this year. The report’s unnamed “sources from the upstream supply chain” stated that HP is hoping to ship 28 million notebooks before the end of 2013.

HP’s minor comeback to reclaim the top of the notebook market could be due to its strong enterprise sales within the notebook market segment. As the official end of Windows XP in April 2014 approaches, business that have stayed contend with that operating system are now transitioning their infrastructure to newer Microsoft operating systems. HP has even announced an official partnership with Microsoft to migrate business still on XP to newer versions of windows, presumably ones that run on HP hardware.

(via DigiTimes)

August 22, 2013
HP Predicted to Retake Notebook Lead From Lenovo

The second quarter of 2013 was a bust for PC manufacturers. Shipments of desktop and notebook computers were down nearly 11% from the second quarter of 2012. Only Lenovo was able to weather the waning market, raising shipments year-over-year by 19.7% and overtaking HP as the world’s top PC manufacturer.

Now it appears that HP is poised to take its title back, at least with regards to notebooks. According to a DigiTimes report, Lenovo’s shipments of notebook PCs are expected to fall 7 to 9 percent during the third quarter of 2013, while HP’s notebook shipments are expected to rise 15 to 20 percent. The report cites unnamed “Taiwan-based supply chain makers” as stating this would put HP back at number one for notebook shipments worldwide.

Though HP has been emphasizing its enterprise solutions businesses in recent months, the company is still shipping large numbers of PCs. Though Windows 8 failed to energize the PC market for 2012’s holiday season, the looming end of support for Windows XP is expected to push PC sales in the coming months, particularly for businesses that have been slow to upgrade. HP has officially teamed with Microsoft to transition businesses to Windows 8. The DigiTimes report also cites large government contracts as a factor in HP’s expected shipment upturn.

HP is also expected to compete aggressively in the mini-tablet market this fall. The company is rumored to be launching a $99 tablet in cooperation with Wal-Mart for the back-to-school season.

(via DigiTimes)

July 31, 2013
HP to Release $99 Tablet This Fall [RUMOR]

The tablet market, just a few years old, is already crowded with tablet designs from nearly every tech manufacturer. Predictions show that the tablet market should grow to a record size this year, while shipments of traditional PCs are now declining. Though Apple and Amazon are largely dominating the 7-inch tablet market, that hasn’t stopped other manufacturers from trying to grab a piece of it.

DigiTimes today reported that HP will be releasing a $99 tablet for the back-to-school season. According to the report’s unnamed “sources from the upstream supply chain,” the tablet will be sold at Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. The device will reportedly have a 7-inch screen and an Intel Medfield single-core processor.

The tablet will be HP’s first sub-$100 tablet, but only if the HP TouchPad isn’t counted. The TouchPad debuted in 2011 as a competitor to the iPad, but failed tremendously. The tablet’s $499 price was slashed to only $99 to clear out inventory, and quickly sold out at both online and physical retailers.

HP’s latest 7-inch tablet, the HP Slate 7, sells for $169. That tablet’s specs are comparable to Amazon’s original Kindle Fire tablet. HP’s tablets will be competing this fall with Google’s recently announced upgraded Nexus 7 and a refreshed lineup of Amazon’s Kindle tablets.

(Image courtesy mbiebusch under Creative Commons License)

(via DigiTimes)

July 25, 2013
HP, Microsoft Team Up to Get Businesses Off Windows XP

Over one decade from its release and three new versions of Windows past, Windows XP remains one of the most popular operating systems in the world – and for good reason. XP was a stable operating system with loads of software support and years worth of updates. It was exactly what both businesses and consumers needed to accomplish their work, use the growing internet, and play PC games.

Though Microsoft announced this spring that it intends to end support for XP in April 2014, many businesses in particular still have not upgraded their software. Microsoft and its manufacturing partners are beginning to see this as a problem, and HP announced today that it has teamed with Microsoft to transition businesses to more recent versions of Windows.

“Many businesses have been avoiding the XP migration, fearing lack of compatibility and loss of productivity during the transition process,” said Enrique Lores, SVP of commercial PCs at HP.

Though Windows 7 overtook XP as the world’s most popular operating system last fall, HP estimates that as many as 40% of businesses are still running XP. With support for XP ending in less than a year, businesses content with the 2001 operating system or those that have simply procrastinated are now being forced to overhaul their computing – and it appears that HP has positioned itself well to be a one-stop-shop for these late adopters. HP, which has recently embraced services as the PC market has begun to slow, is now offering its services to businesses looking to transfer out of XP. In addition to hardware, the company is offering planning, staff, automated software, payment plans, consulting, support, and testing for business looking to upgrade.

“By working with a company such as HP, which has hardware and services solutions in place, businesses can almost immediately start realizing the benefits of Windows 8 and Windows 7,” said Erwin Visser, GM of Windows at Microsoft.

July 10, 2013
Chromebooks Are Now Available In Six More Countries

Chromebooks are slowly making their way around the world as Google introduces more consumers to its idea of what personal computing should look like. Now consumers, schools and businesses in six more countries can take advantage of the affordable computing provided by Chromebook.

Google announced today that Chromebooks are now available for purchase in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands. Consumers can go ahead and pick up a new Chromebook from Google itself or a licensed reseller today.

The Chromebooks available for purchase today include those from Acer, HP and Samsung. It’s not immediately clear if the $1,300 Chromebook Pixel will be available in these countries as well.

As for schools and businesses, Google expects that those organizations may have some questions. For schools, Google in Education will be hosting a number of Hangouts next week to address any questions or concerns schools may have with the Chromebooks for Education program:
Australia – Event on March 28th at 10:00 EST
Canada – Event on March 28th at 14:00 EDT
France – Event on March 29th at 16:00 CET
Germany – Event on March 28th at 17:00 CET
Ireland – Event on March 26th at 17:00 GMT
The Netherlands – Event on March 27th at 17:00 CET

Most of today’s news may be focused on Europe, Oceania and our neighbor up north, but Google has a small announcement for the U.S. Chromebook market as well. Starting today, Chromebooks will be available in 1,000 more Best Buy stores around the country for those who prefer to still buy computers at retail stores.

March 19, 2013

HP Releases Cyber Security Risk Report, Organizes Its Security Research

Though the focus of the tech press this week will certainly be on the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, security researchers are having their own RSA conference this week in San Francisco.

HP has managed to find itself at both conferences, straddling the line between its classic form as a hardware manufacturer and the enterprise products it sees as its future. While the newly announced HP Slate 7 might not have the hardware to truly compete in the mini-tablet market, HP is still hoping that its enterprise security offerings might be just the thing businesses are looking for.

At the RSA conference today, HP has released its 2012 Cyber Security Risk Report. The report shows, predictably, that total security vulnerabilities are rising, keeping pace with the growing technology infrastructure. Although the report also shows that “critical vulnerabilities” are down, it warns that the existing vulnerabilities are getting harder to fight.

The report looked at 100,000 different URLs and found that well-known vulnerabilities (such as cross frame scripting) are still common throughout the web. In fact, 40% of the vulnerabilities found could be placed into just four different categories.

Mobile vulnerabilities were found to have risen significantly (68%) from 2011 to 2012, mirroring the growth of mobile applications. Of the mobile applications tested by HP, 48% of them were found to have unauthorized access vulnerabilities.

The report’s statistics are reminiscent of other recent security reports, such as the HP-sponsored 2012 Cost of Cyber Crime Study or Verizon’s 2012 Data Breach Investigation Report, which found that anonymous “hacktivism” is on the rise. Though it may seem that such reports are, literally, trying to scare up business, its clear from many sources that the security risks faced by businesses and governments of all sizes are complicated and increasing.

The security report is part of a new initiative within HP to organize its security investments under the banner of the HP Security Research (HPSR) group. HP security products such as DVLabs, which finds and analyzes vulnerabilities, and the Zero Day Initiative, which investigates cyber attacks and security breaches.

“It’s a way of combining intelligence research that was already happening at HP,” said Mark Painter, product marketing manager at HP. “Really what we’re trying to do is give organizations actionable intelligence research.”

That “actionable intelligence” phrase is one that came up repeatedly when Painter spoke with WebProNews. It’s one of the goals of HPSR, along with trying to “drive innovation” and publish security research. To that end, the group will be providing free bi-weekly threat intelligence briefings that are available to the public. The HPSR will also seek to publish white papers and intelligence research, and will be releasing podcasts in conjunction with the threat briefings.

LG Buys WebOS For Use in Smart TVs

After HP bought Palm in 2010, the company promptly proceeded to run the webOS operating system into the ground with a series of lackluster products. The HP TouchPad was the company’s final official webOS product, and the company ended up dropping the tablet’s price to $100 after it became a marketplace failure.

In December of 2011, HP announced that is would publish the webOS source code and open-source it for developers who might want to use it. It was an honorable, yet disappointing ending for a mobile OS that was generally well-loved.

Today, as the Mobile World Congress is just beginning, CNET has broken the story that webOS may have been resurrected: LG has bought webOS from HP. According to the report, LG has purchased the webOS source code and all webOS-related patents, as well as webOS web sites, “related documentation,” and “engineering talent.”

LG isn’t looking to switch its smartphone lineup to webOS, though. Instead, the company told CNET that webOS software will be repurposed to power LG’s lineup of smart TVs. LG stated that a new location in Sunnyvale, California called LG Silicon Valley Lab will be headed by whatever is left of the “webOS team.”

No price has been mentioned for the deal, and HP has not yet commented on it. It is also unknown whether the Chubby Checker lawsuit will be affected as a result.

HP Slate 7 Announced, Specs and Price Released

It seems that mini-tablets are the product that tech manufacturers have decided they need to sell in 2013. While Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad Mini dominate the category, the new flood of 7-inch to 8-inch tablets announced at this week’s Mobile World Congress will soon be lost to time as newer versions of popular tablets are announced.

The latest mini-tablet entry from the conference is the Slate 7 from HP. Instead of putting impressive components into their tablet, HP has cobbled together a low-cost entry that compares to Amazon’s original Kindle Fire, which was released in the fall of 2011.

The Slate 7 has a 1.6GHz dual core processor, a 7-inch screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution, and only five hours of video playback before needing to be recharged. The tablet comes with 8GB of internal storage and has a microSD card slot. The back camera is 3MP and the front one is VGA. It will come running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The Slate 7 will come in one of two colors, silver or red, and will cost $169. Considering the older components in the tablet, $169 isn’t a terrible price, but it does raise the question of why HP didn’t go ahead and price the Slate 7 at $159, which is the price the original Kindle Fire, with similar specs, now sells for. If Amazon announces a Kindle Fire refresh soon and manages to drop the price of the Kindle Fire HD, the Slate 7 will look like a very poor offering in comparison.

Autonomy’s Former Execs “Welcome” FRC Investigation

Back in November 2012, HP announced its dismal quarterly results and blamed around $5 billion of its $8.8 billion impairment charge on “serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentations, and disclosure failures” at Autonomy prior to its purchase by HP in 2011. Autonomy founder Mike Lynch shot back at HP immediately, starting a website and issuing an open letter accusing HP of mismanagement.

Though HP did not address the criticism directly, it did cheekily reply that it “look[s] forward to hearing Dr. Lynch and other former Autonomy employees answer questions under penalty of perjury.” Since that time HP’s comment on the matter has been that the case is in the hands of authorities such as the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This week it was revealed that the U.K.’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is investigating Autonomy’s books from 2009 to 2011. The FRC investigation will take place in consultation with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Through the website created by Lynch, former Autonomy execs boldly proclaimed that they “welcome” the FRC investigation. The statement, in full:

We note the announcement by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) that it has begun an investigation of the financial reporting of Autonomy for the period from 1 January 2009 to 30 June 2011. As a member of the FTSE 100 the accounts of Autonomy have previously been reviewed by the FRC, including during the period in question, and no actions or changes were recommended or required.

We welcome this investigation. Autonomy received unqualified audit reports throughout its life as a public company. This includes the period in question, during which Autonomy was audited by Deloitte. We are fully confident in the financial reporting of the company and look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate this to the FRC.

Depending on what the FRC uncovers, either Lynch or HP will have some serious explaining to do. Besides embarrassment and possible criminal implications, the investigation could end up playing a large role in the lawsuits HP’s allegations have spawned.

HP Enters Chromebook Market With The Pavilion 14

It may have taken a few years, but Google’s Chromebook is finally taking off as a valid alternative to the traditional Windows laptop and MacBook. That means more OEMs are starting to make them with HP being the latest to join the fray.

HP announced the Pavilion 14 Chromebook this morning as part of its “multiOS approach to offer customers more choices.” HP’s new Chromebook fits snugly between Samsung’s and Acer’s offerings with an attractive $329.99 price tag and competitive specs.

“Google’s Chrome OS is showing great appeal to a growing customer base,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs, Printing and Personal Systems, HP. “With HP’s Chromebook, customers can get the best of the Google experience on a full-sized laptop—all backed up by our service and brand.”

If you choose to go with the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook, you can look forward to the following specs:

Calling All Hackers: Google Wants You To Break Chrome OS At Pwnium 3

Pwnium is the annual hacker competition where Google invites coders from around the world to find security holes in Google Chrome. That changes this year as Google wants hackers to break both of its Chromium projects.

Google announced today that Chrome will be one of the browsers hackers can take on at the annual Pwn2Own Competition. This year’s competition is hosted by HP’s Zero Day Initiative alongside Google, the latter of which will be underwriting a portion of the winnings for all targets – including non-Chromium browsers. The event will last between March 6-8 in Vancouver, BC. You can register here.

At the CanSecWest conference on March 7, Google will be hosting its own competition – the third annual Pwnium. Instead of hacking Chrome, however, Google will task hackers with breaking Chrome OS. The company will be offering rewards in the following categories with up to $3.14 million in prize money up for grabs:

HP Rebuffs Offers For Autonomy, EDS and Opens New Executive Center

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HP has received offers to buy both Autonomy and EDS. The companies have lost much of their value since being acquired by HP, forcing around 16 billion in write-downs during HP’s last two quarterly reports of 2012. This news come in light of reports that HP could attempt to sell off some of its divisions to grab revenue during its massive restructuring.

HP acquired Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 2008 for $13.9 billion. The IT services company has become heavily integrated into HP, but its value has not held. In August HP announced its third quarter 2012 report included an impairment charge of around $8 billion related to EDS and HP’s larger restructuring efforts.

The Autonomy write-down is similar, but mired in accusations of fraud and mismanagement. HP announced in November that it would be taking an $8.8 billion write-down due to “serious accounting improprieties, misrepresentations, and disclosure failures” at Autonomy prior to its $10.2acquisition in 2011.

Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch was quickly outspoken in answering HP’s accusations, blaming mismanagement at HP for Autonomy’s lost value. He even started a website to counter HP’s claims.

For its part, HP has held its ground and claims that the truth will come out when financial investigators in both the U.S. and U.K. are able to review Autonomy’s books. Meanwhile, nearly everyone involved has been sued on behalf of HP shareholders.

As for the possible sales of the EDS or Autonomy, it doesn’t appear the HP want to let them go. The WSJ report cites “people familiar with the discussions” as saying that EDS may be too tightly integrated with HP to sell. Autonomy would be easier to let go of, but HP has stated that it is committed to working with Autonomy in its current form.

In the midst of all these financial troubles, HP has just announced the opening of a new headquarters lobby and executive briefing center. The 37,700-square-foot facility, said HP CEO Meg Whitman, “…is a symbol of out turnaround and sets the tone for a continued path of progress and rejuventation.”

PC Sales Declined During Last Year’s Holiday Season

A new report issued this week by International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that worldwide PC shipments during the fourth quarter of 2012 actually declined, down 6.4% from 2011. The 89.8 million units were less than even the predicted decline of 4.4%. This is is spite of the launch of Windows 8 and the accompanying products from companies such as HP, Asus, and Microsoft itself.

“Although the third quarter was focused on the clearing of Windows 7 inventory, preliminary research indicates the clearance did not significantly boost the uptake of Windows 8 systems in Q4,” said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. “Lost in the shuffle to promote a touch-centric PC, vendors have not forcefully stressed other features that promote a more secure, reliable and efficient user experience. As Windows 8 matures, and other corresponding variables such as Ultrabook pricing continue to drop, hopefully the PC market can see a reset in both messaging and demand in 2013.”

The U.S. market in particular took a big hit, dropping 7% compared to holiday 2011. IDC blames the drop on the failure of imagination manufacturers had towards what a good Windows 8 experience would be. However, this could simply be the beginning of the post-PC world that Apple and Microsoft are predicting.

“Consumers expected all sorts of cool PCs with tablet and touch capabilities,” said David Daoud, research director at IDC U.S. Quarterly PC Tracker. “Instead, they mostly saw traditional PCs that feature a new OS (Windows 8 ) optimized for touch and tablet with applications and hardware that are not yet able to fully utilize these capabilities. Despite a generally weak performance, some leading brands managed do to well relative to the market. HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Samsung were among the top performers, taking advantage of some consumer interest in Windows 8, and a push to build up their presence ahead of 2013.”

Despite its recent write-downs and accusations of accounting fraud at Autonomy before its acquisition, HP continues to rank highest on IDC worldwide PC shipment rankings. HP seized on this bit of good news, highlighting the fact that the IDC rankings include the workstation segment rather than just the consumer market. From HP:

IDC announced today that HP maintained the No. 1 position in PC shipments worldwide and in the United States. The IDC analysis also includes the very important workstation segment and therefore represents the most comprehensive analysis of the entire PC market.

We believe HP’s position as the market share leader demonstrates our ongoing commitment to deliver superior PC products and experiences across customer segments.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting that even HP CEO Meg Whitman knows it will take half a decade to pull the company up from its current downward trajectory.

HP Could Sell Off Divisions to Shore-Up Revenue

2012 was certainly a bad year for HP. The company saw its revenues fall and its stock price followed. Tens of thousands of planned layoffs have been announced, and ts last two quarterly reports have included write-downs of more than 8 billion dollars. It’s not clear anymore that HP can survive the changing consumer PC market, even by simply acquiring enterprise solution companies.

HP’s latest 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission makes it clear that the company will be looking to sell off assets it no longer considers vital to its future objectives. According to a Bloomberg report, HP will evaluate the potential sale of underperforming divisions, though it acknowledges that finding buyers or “alternative exit strategies” could be difficult.

In 2011, it was rumored that HP was looking into spinning off its PC division. CEO Meg Whitman eventually decided against such a move, and instead combined HP’s printer and PC divisions.

At around the same time, HP acquired a knowledge management service company called Autonomy. The purchase turned out to be a huge misstep, however. In November 2011, HP blamed much of its second $8 billion write-down on “accounting improprieties, misrepresentations, and disclosure failures” by former Autonomy executives. The 10-K filing does not provide any new details on what Autonomy is alleged to have done, though it does state that the U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating Autonomy’s accounts.