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The pivot worked out quite well for IBM. It happened when there was significant question as to whether their PC business would ever be an industry leader; they'
by jeffreymcmanus 15y ago
The pivot worked out quite well for IBM. It happened when there was significant question as to whether their PC business would ever be an industry leader; they'd just laid off more than 100,000 people because of overall weakness in their business and the economy in general.
The hamburger analogy is disingenuous. Hamburgers weren't invented in our generation and they don't radically change every 18 months.
- function_seven 15y agoActually, I think the hamburger analogy works something like this: McDonald's doesn't make much money on the burgers themselves. The profit is in the fries and sodas. The point being that it would be absurd for McDonalds to decide to kill off the burger, because it "wasn't profitable". The burger drives those other sales. Computers might not be profitable for HP, but supposedly they drive other, more profitable sales. (I'm not sure what those other products are, though!)
- adgar 15y agoComputers might not be profitable for HP, but supposedly they drive other, more profitable sales. (I'm not sure what those other products are, though!) Printers and ink, baby. Example tie-in: Kid going off to college? Tuition is expensive, buy a low-cost HP laptop and we'll toss in a discount on an HP inkjet printer! You don't want to deal with library printing and waiting in lines, you'll want a printer in your room!