Channel Strategies for the CIONot surprisingly, the aftermath of Hewlett-Packard dumping its WebOS TouchPad and phones and potentially spinning off its PC business drew a great deal of SearchITChannel.com reader interest in August. But there was also big news in the IT world not involving HP: Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple CEO. Channel Marker took a minute to reflect on what made Jobs (and Apple) successful.
1. HP makes good on TouchPad refunds
HP is still picking up the pieces after
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killing
off the TouchPad while trying to keep partners and customers happy. VARs that heeded HP’s
advice to “go all in” and order TouchPads were reimbursed the full price paid for the now-lifeless
tablets rather than the current bargain-basement $99 price tag. Customers who request a rebate will
also be “price protected” at full purchase cost.
2. HP reverbs continue to roil partners, Wall Street
Talk about saying one thing and doing another. HP’s Stephen DiFranco said in an email that HP
is committed to the health and growth of its PC business right after news broke that HP
wants to sell or spin off its PC division. Needless to say, this didn’t exactly quell the fears
spreading in the channel. Some VARs voiced their, ahem, opinions after hearing this and questioned
whether this is good, long-term business strategy from CEO Leo Apotheker or the former SAP CEO is
just trying to one-up Oracle and IBM.
3. Steve Jobs’ Legacy
Apple will
miss many things about Steve Jobs, one of them being his ability to captivate an audience.
Blogger Barbara Darrow explains why Jobs’ talk during MacWorld Boston in 1997 encapsulates this
skill perfectly, only without the normal rhetoric attached to speeches in front of
shareholders.
4. Dell encourages solution providers to think ‘chiller-less’
VARs looking for new ways to offer value in customers’ data centers may want to look into providing
“chiller-less” data center services. Dell is trying to get the word out to partners that its new Fresh
Air technology, which can handle more heat and humidity than normal equipment, can help
customers save heavily on data center cooling and operations.
5. HP to dump WebOS TouchPads, phones
After telling anyone who would listen at the HP Americas Partner Conference in March that WebOS
was the wave of the future and a major acquisition, HP
stopped operations for the WebOS TouchPad and phones. This decision left partners confused and
wondering what Apotheker’s next move will be and whether to listen to his advice.
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