我們希望，惠普(HP)的PC大業(yè)，能真的找到屬于自己的方向。
日前，惠普的 PC 業(yè)務(wù)出現(xiàn)了180度的大轉(zhuǎn)變，該公司聲稱不會切割價值達400億美元的 PC 部門。不過這似乎不能歸功于新任CEO Meg Whitman ── 在她上任之初，便曾為拆分 PC 業(yè)務(wù)的計劃背書過。
HP對PC業(yè)務(wù)搖擺不定的態(tài)度，已經(jīng)不會再對供應(yīng)鏈帶來巨大影響了。事實上，HP決定用掉庫存來制造最后一批TouchPad的舉動，無疑緩解了稍早前供應(yīng)鏈發(fā)現(xiàn)所面臨的供過于求情況。
包括HP在內(nèi)的所有PC廠商，都面臨著一個真正的挑戰(zhàn)──整體PC市場的命運。在上周一場電子組件產(chǎn)業(yè)協(xié)會所舉辦的會議中，IHS iSuppli公司半導(dǎo)體制造首席分析師Len Jelinek表示，IT經(jīng)理們?nèi)匀粚ζ桨咫娔X興趣缺缺。除非平板電腦真的能從娛樂設(shè)備轉(zhuǎn)換成為可因應(yīng)商務(wù)工作的裝置，否則將無法獲得重要的IT業(yè)務(wù)預(yù)算。
“PC仍是居主導(dǎo)地位的系統(tǒng)，”Jelinek說?！癙C之所以重要，就是因為它是一部PC。個人計算機至今仍然被放在辦公桌上。不過PC確實需要再創(chuàng)新。PC仍是IT人的最愛，因為他們可以控制所有PC里的內(nèi)容?！?
他指出，HP和Acer已經(jīng)在PC市場做了許多嘗試。包括之前試圖改變市場的小筆電(netbook)。最初小筆電憑借著其價格點而取得良好的開展。然而，市面上充斥著太多的其它選擇，因而導(dǎo)致小筆電的市場需求快速下降。
而Ultrabook──超輕薄筆電，是目前許多組件制造商寄托希望的所在，也可能是超輕薄筆電的外形，讓制造商認為可以再給低迷的PC市場多一些刺激。然而，Ultrabook仍然面臨功耗問題。這種產(chǎn)品依然使用觸控屏幕。Ultrabook必須能以平板電腦的形式整合所有PC功能?！斑@很可能是一種殺手級應(yīng)用，”Jelinek說。
HP會將目光轉(zhuǎn)向Ultrabook嗎？如果是，這家公司要花多久時間才能追上。為了與10幾年前便已退出PC市場的IBM抗衡，惠普花了很大力氣在其新的安全服務(wù)策略上。不過， IHS iSuppli 指出，與其它甚至未曾嘗試過此類策略的供貨商相比，HP在第二季確實賣出了較多的計算機。
然而，HP完全投入下一代PC市場的情況也不是不可能發(fā)生。這家企業(yè)的標語向來是創(chuàng)新(Invent)吧，我想！
編譯： Joy Teng
本文授權(quán)編譯自EBN Online，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載
參考英文原文：： HP 'Back' in PCs: Now Invent the Ultrabook，by Barbara Jorgensen, EBN Community Editor
相關(guān)閱讀：
• 聯(lián)想Q3出貨大增25%，躍身全球第2大PC品牌廠
• 惠普如何才能再度成為硅谷之光？
• 傳TouchPad或以TouchDroid形式重生gqzesmc
{pagination}
HP 'Back' in PCs: Now Invent the Ultrabook
Barbara Jorgensen
Let's hope the PC drama at Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) has played itself out for now.
Yesterday, HP made a 180-degree turn on its PC business, announcing it would not spin the $40 billion unit off after all. New CEO Meg Whitman doesn't deserve all the credit -- she had endorsed the spinoff plan earlier in her five-week-long career with HP. (See: HP Needs a Higher Bar for Whitman.)
HP's off-again, on-again relationship with its PC business has not impacted the supply chain so far. In fact, the decision to use up inventory on a last run of its TouchPad no doubt eased the oversupply situation the supply chain finds itself in as it enters the fourth quarter. (See: HP Chooses the Lesser of Two Evils.)
The real question facing HP -- as well as all other PC makers -- is the fate of the overall PC market. Supply chain executives got some guidance this week at the Electronic Components Industry Association executive conference. Len Jelinek, director and principal analyst for semiconductor manufacturing at IHS iSuppli, said the tablet fan base is still missing one significant group: IT managers. Until tablets make the transition from entertainment device to workhorse, they won't get a share of the all-important IT business budget.
"PC is still the dominant system," Jelinek told the conference. "It is still at the point where it is a computer. It sits on the desk. It computes. It needs another innovation. The desktop computer is still loved by the IT guys because they can still control the content."
HP and Acer Inc. have done well in the PC market, he said. The netbook, an attempt to change that market, started out well because of its price point. However, there were too many other choices in the market, and demand dropped off.
The ultrabook -- the super-thin notebook computer on which many component makers are pinning their hopes -- may be the form factor that lifts the PC out of the doldrums. It still faces power consumption issues, and it will have to integrate a touch screen. The ultrabook needs to be a flat tablet with all the operating power of a PC. "That could be the killer app," Jelinek says.
Will HP turn its eye toward the ultrabook? If so, it probably has a lot of catching up to do. The company is throwing all its marketing muscle behind its new suite of security services, measuring itself against IBM (which exited the PC market more than a decade ago). Still, as IHS iSuppli pointed out in September, HP sold more computers in the second quarter than any other vendor without even trying. (See: The 'Whoops' Business Strategy in the Supply Chain.)
If it applies itself fully to the next-generation PC, I wouldn't bet against HP. Its corporate mantra (I think) still is "Invent."
