HP TouchPad or webOS Not Returning to Life Despite Leo Apotheker Ousting

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What everyone in the tech-reporting business expected, happened today. After almost a year at the helm of HP, Leo Apotheker was sacked. As rumored Meg Whitman, known for having formerly occupied the CEO position of another popular company you may know, eBay, replaced him.

But why change leadership if you’re set to maintain the same strategy? What will Whitman do for HP in order to bring the company back to a glorious path that Apotheker couldn’t do?

Whitman is committed to follow the company’s recently announced policy. That means no more TouchPad, Veer or Pre 3, and no more webOS development. It also means a spinoff of its PC business may be still in the works, all valid reasons to continue to hate HP, especially if you’re a fan of any of their products part of these particular smart niches. Here’s what she told Gizmodo when asked about HP’s forthcoming strategy:

“I am supportive of the actions that were announced on August 18th…from what I know now, I think the strategy is right, the initiatives we took on August 18th were right.”

On the other hand here’s the full letter she and Ray Lane, the new executive chairman of HP’s board of directors, sent to HP employees today:

You’ll notice it’s just a propagandist statement, a cheer to rally the troops that offers no actual solutions to HP’s real problems, its devalued stock and angry shareholders. Oh, and let’s not forget some of the troops, working on webOS, will be fired. What motivations do they really need?

What’s puzzling to me is that HP, a company with a lot of experience in producing smart devices, the kind of gadgets that will be part of our future, has found a way to significantly cripple its business. Why on earth would want to ditch a mobile division acquired for an impressive $1.2 billion and consider a PC spinoff when mobile devices and computers are more and more present in the life of consumers? And I’m pretty sure that they’ll play an even larger role in the future, unless the world comes to an abrupt end.

In other words, while I may prefer Apple products right now, I always admired HP, at least until August 18.

On that note, I’ll remind you that Apple has taught people that, although it may seem a hard job to pull off, controlling the software and hardware development is key to ensuring a stellar future. HP probably missed that class, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the company’s stock will get back up to please shareholders after the unexpected death of the TouchPad and especially after the PC business will be spun off.

Again, what will Whitman really bring to the table?

Email image from TechCrunch.