Author: f1234cwilson

H-P Blunders

Posted on by f1234cwilson

In 2010, Hewlett-Packards CEO boasted that it was the largest IT company in the world and still haven’t even hit their full potential. Since then H-P has gone through two different CEO’s and the company’s market capitalization has fallen significantly. But what caused such a drastic fall off?

With all the leadership change at H-P, it has caused a lot of money loss because they cannot decided who should run the company, who’s plan to follow. There have been 4 different CEO’s since 2005 and that causes a lot of confusion within the work place because each CEO brings in a whole new feel. Also, each CEO has made cuts and lay offs, almost 75,000 workers since 2005. This has developed a lot employee moral around the company. Its hard to take pride and honor in your company when you are at the constant threat of being fired.

H-P also has a major debt to pay off. The company has spend more that 67 billion in acquisitions since 2001. H-P is over 5 billion in debt so they have had to make a lot of cut backs, like the employee firings, but also in different areas budgets. For example, Research and Development lost a good deal of funding. This was a poor business decision by H-P because they are a technology firm and with technology everyone wants the newest, most updated model and thats comes by research and development.

With these major blunders, what does H-P need to do to stay alive and turn the company around. What will new CEO, Ms. Whitman need to do as leader to turn the company around?

 

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/hewlett_packard_corporation/index.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204755404578101943429107284.html

Microsoft Music, Can ITunes Be Challenged?

Posted on by f1234cwilson

Microsoft will launch a music streaming service, that is free on Windows 8 PCs and tablets. The program will offer music subscription service and a pay-as-you-go music store that sells individual tracks and albums. Microsoft’s music service coincides with the Oct. 26 launch of its Windows 8 operating system for computers and Windows RT for tablets and the arrival of new Windows phones later this fall.

Despite Microsoft’s attempts with its Zune devices and music players, Apple remains dominant in digital music sales. In the second quarter of 2012, Apple accounted for 64% of digital music sales, according to market research firm NPD Group. Apple also sells nearly one-third (29%) of all music, digital or physical. While Amazon commands 16% of the digital market, Microsoft and others, including Google Play, had market shares of 5% or lower. When Xbox Music hits the Xbox 360 video game console Tuesday as part of an overall system update, users can apply for a free 30-day trial of Xbox Music Pass (after that it’s $9.99 monthly). That will give them access to on-demand streaming playback of a library of 18 million songs in the U.S. Owners of computers and tablets upgraded to Windows 8 – and new Windows 8 device purchasers – will have an ad-supported free Xbox Music streaming on-demand program on board. Upgrading to the $9.99 monthly service allows ad-free streaming across devices and offline play.

Online music is the present and future of the music industry. But does Apple have too strong a hold on the market with ITunes or does Microsoft have a chance to break into this new market?

 

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/10/14/microsoft-xbox-music-service/1630383/