Can HP Be as ‘Cool’ as Apple?

The big WebOS event that Hewlett-Packard has planned for
Feb. 9 is expected to include the introduction of its long-awaited WebOS-based
answers to the Apple iPad. However, beyond
introducing a few devices, the event reportedly will
represent the unveiling of a new HP, and one that Leo Apotheker
— now four months into his role as CEO of HP — hopes consumers will
embrace as cooler and hipper than the enterprise-focused PC giant of
yesteryear.

Speaking with the BBC in
an exclusive interview during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Apotheker shed
a little light on his thoughts about the company, and what he’d like to help it
achieve.

"What’s happening is probably the biggest revolution in
the history of IT," Apotheker told the BBC of the current tech market.
"The Internet is going totally mobile, the bandwidth is there … so many
technologies are converging, and HP is the one company that can put it all together.
We want to be the leader in this."

A sprawling company, with interests in a variety of
enterprise IT solutions, such as servers, cloud computing, IT services and
professional and consumer desktops and laptops, HP — following its July
2010 purchase of Palm — is now also competing in the finicky but lucrative
consumer mobile device space. The very enormity of the company, Apotheker told
the BBC, can actually be its "basis of strength."

For more, read the eWeek article: HP CEO Leo Apotheker Wants HP to Be ‘Cool’ Like Apple.