HP is back on top of the PC world, but what’s a title worth in a declining market? Also, an Airbnb host gets a $5,000 fine, and Uber merges with Yandex in Russia.
Top of the Order:
A Pyrrhic Victory?: For years, the old Hewlett-Packard was the top company in the world in terms of PC sales. But, like all good things, that came to an end. The rise (for a while, anyway) of Dell, and then the emergence of Lenovo managed to unseat HP from its No. 1 perch. It seemed like HP’s dominance in the PC market had, at least symbolically, passed.
And when HP split up into two companies — HP Inc. (PCs and printers) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (just about everything else HP did) — despite all the talk about things like unleashing both companies’ potential, there wasn’ t a lot of excitement about what either company might accomplish. As much as whatever the old HP meant to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area in general, it wasn’ t seen as a major innovator anymore, and its successors weren’ t given much credit for what they might do next.
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Biz Break: Google on thin ice in Europe; LeEco’s (very) short on cash; big bucks for starter homes So, when HP reclaimed the top spot in worldwide PC sales, it begged one to look at what’s going on in a marketplace where an old (theoretical) warhorse could find a way back to the No. 1 spot.
In case you missed it, technology firm Gartner released its latest figures on worldwide PC shipments, and during the second quarter of this year, HP took the top position away from Lenovo. Gartner said HP shipped 12.7 million PCs between April and June. That was 3.3 percent more than the total HP shipped a year ago, and good enough for 20.8 percent of the entire PC market during the quarter.
Lenovo, which had been in the top spot, fell to No.2, as its 12.2 million shipments dropped by 8.4 percent from a year ago. Lenovo’s shipments gave it a 19.9 percent market share.
The top five PC companies were rounded out by Dell, Apple and Asus.
Gartner said the results made it five-straight quarters of year-over-year growth in PCs for HP. Which is something of an accomplishment. But how much of an accomplishment is it?
Because HP is No. 1 in a declining market. Gartner said that the second quarter made it 11-straight quarters of year-over-year sales drops for PCs, and that shipments were at their lowest level since 2007. Maybe it’s coincidence, or not, but 2007 was also the same year that Apple’s first iPhone went on sale and changed the markets for smartphones, and PCs, forever.
Total worldwide PC shipments were down 4.3 percent, to 61.1 million. Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said sales are taking a hit due to higher PC prices, which have been brought on by “the impact of component shortages for DRAM (memory chips) , solid state drives (SSDs) and LCD panels.” Some (vendors) decided to absorb the component price hike without raising the final price of their devices, while other vendors transferred the costs to the end-user price.”
Kitagawa said PC pricing issues reflect the different characteristics of business and consumer PC customers. With regards to businesses, prices are “typically locked in based on the contract, which often run through the quarter or even the year.” But, for consumers, “the price hike has a greater impact as buying habits are more sensitive to price increases, (and) many consumers are willing to postpone their purchases until the price pressure eases.”
If HP was hoping that investors might use its title as a reason to throw their support behind the company’s stock, well… The reaction on Wall Street was a collective, “Whatever.” By the time the stock market closed, HP shares had risen just 0.2 percent, or 4 cents a share, to close at $18.08.
So, for HP, being able to say it is No. 1 might be a victory. Yet, it’s one tempered by knowing that its gains might not be based entirely on its own efforts, but the uncertain state of an industry in flux, if not in decline.
Middle Innings:
That’s a $5,000 Room: When you sign up to rent your home on Airbnb, the basic idea is that people will pay you to rent your place for a while. Not that you will pay a fine for telling someone they can’ t stay at your rental because they are Asian. But, that is exactly what has happened, as an Airbnb host was ordered to pay five large, after the woman told her client that she wouldn’ t rent to her because she was Asian. The situation involved an Airbnb rental in Big Bear.
Bottom of the Lineup:
From Russia With Little Love: It was starting to get a little boring in the world, as a couple of weeks had gone by without much of note involving Uber. Ah, but that changed Thursday, when Uber, in effect, gave up its business in Russia by agreeing to merge its operations in the country with rival Yandex. The new company, which as of now has no name, is said to be worth $3.7 billion.
Quote of the Day: “The overwhelming majority of information in the data set had no external value.” — Verizon, in a statement about a security breach that affected 6 million of the telecom giant’s customers .
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