Comments on: The Incumbent’s Curse: HP

By: chris

chris — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:59:47 +0000

When I had headaches, I went to a chiropractor to help me. Luckily, he was able to lessen the frequency of my headaches.

By: Chiropractor Denver

Chiropractor Denver — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:03:34 +0000

There are certain food products like cheese, aginomoto, chocolate which can cause this particular type of headache. The recurrentmigraine headaches are manifested through a pulsating pain. The cluster headaches are equally painful and they are observed in men mostly.

By: iPhone 5

iPhone 5 — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:25:03 +0000

Yes, thinks like iPhone can be different because you can work on mobility!

By: animesh

animesh — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:19:49 +0000

Nice informative piece. V well written and even entertaining…

By: gossip

gossip — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:52:55 +0000

Gossip is good only when the information creates value to either party. Frequent gossipers showed to be more powerful and have dominant, masculine and aggressive behavior and less submissive or soft-spoken qualities.

By: RIM: What Did You Know and When Did You Know It? | Monday Note

RIM: What Did You Know and When Did You Know It? | Monday Note — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:07:42 +0000

[...] How did we get there? Is this yet another example of the Incumbent’s Curse?: [...]

By: fajar

fajar — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:50:48 +0000

great article

By: TektonikShift

TektonikShift — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:55:14 +0000

About IBM,
Lou Gerstner, an outsider came in to turn the company around.
Within 2 years he rallied the company around the “web server” theme, just in time for the Internet boom. Then diversified into services – taking a long term view of the IT value chain – was a good move and just right for the “outsourcing” theme prevalent throughout global corporations.

DEC, Sun and others never moved off their original product strategy.

Apple has evolved will beyond the original Apple IIc and Macintosh computers.

Nokia is trying to figure out what to do about a mobile industry not familiar to the companies DNA. (Nokia may figure it out – they were once a paper maker and later an electricity generator – but not without lots of pain.

By: HP: Nuovi PC e Stampanti per Internet e Creativi | Infoservi.it

HP: Nuovi PC e Stampanti per Internet e Creativi | Infoservi.it — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:35:14 +0000

[...] dismesso e ora in sospetto di rinnovamento a seguito dell’acquisto di Palm e considerato da alcuni l’ammissione della fine dell’Era del PC. Parleranno anche di design – vedremo. Nella foto sotto l’installazione fatta per il Salone del [...]

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:57:57 +0000

And now I’m wondering … Apple was able to make the transition it did from computer maker to *media device* maker (aka iPod) because of Steve Jobs.

What’s you’re saying here is that the slow death of HP’s desktop side is inevitable — like it was for IBM’s desktop division. I don’t know that the people who are running the desktop side at HP will go quietly onto those layoff lines. At least IBM found Lenovo to buy its ThinkPad division. No suck luck will be available for a failing HP desktop division. This could get ugly unless the revolutionaries completely overthrow and oust the entrenched. This could be ugly.

By: TC4400 Tablet PC Review Part 1

TC4400 Tablet PC Review Part 1 — Tue, 11 May 2010 09:14:49 +0000

[...] The Incumbent’s Curse: HP | Monday Note [...]

By: The Incumbent’s Curse! at Key Performance Indicators

The Incumbent’s Curse! at Key Performance Indicators — Tue, 11 May 2010 08:42:25 +0000

[...] http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/05/09/the-incumbent%E2%80%99s-curse-hp/: The Incumbent’s Curse works like a neurotransmitter disease: it starts slowly, there is no brutal onset of symptoms. The patient’s good health of the moment encourages denial; but when the malady becomes obvious it’s hard to combat, it’s often too late. « The mobile web… blog comments powered by Disqus var disqus_url = ‘http://www.nokpis.com/2010/05/11/the-incumbent%e2%80%99s-curse/ ‘; var disqus_container_id = ‘disqus_thread’; var facebookXdReceiverPath = ‘http://www.nokpis.com/wp-content/plugins/disqus-comment-system/xd_receiver.htm’; var DsqLocal = { ‘trackbacks’: [ ], ‘trackback_url’: ‘http://www.nokpis.com/2010/05/11/the-incumbent%e2%80%99s-curse/trackback/’ }; Looking for something? [...]

By: What We’re Reading: Android vs. Apple - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

What We’re Reading: Android vs. Apple - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:49:24 +0000

[...] The Incumbent’s Curse: HP — mondaynote.com Damon Darlin says: How Hewlett-Packard lost the PC market before, a tale that puts the Palm acquisition in context. [...]

By: tom b

tom b — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:18:35 +0000

HP had to suffer one of the dumbest CEO’s ever to run a major tech company. Now, she’s running for the Senate….

By: SteveWitten

SteveWitten — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:55:37 +0000

For more info on the HP 9100/35/65 story, I recommend 2 very good books:

1. Bill and Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company by Michael S. Malone (2007); and
2. The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation by Chuck House and Ray Price (2009)

Both are excellent! House and Price were long-time HP insiders and their book has more of a business-oriented flavor. Malone is a long-time Silicon Valley news reporter who, at one time, worked in HP’s PR department.

By: nobody

nobody — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:38:28 +0000

I think IBM is like some sort of Hydra, one of it’s head may get sick and die, but the others will keep on, and a new one will regrew in a totally new direction.

By: Glenn Fleishman

Glenn Fleishman — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:32:42 +0000

Whenever I see Ohio Scientific recalled, it touches a soft spot in my heart. I could not afford an Apple ][ in 1979, but my parents spent $333 an on Ohio Scientific C1P with 8K RAM, 8K ROM. I taught myself assembly and machine language. The 6502 was a wonderfully approachable chip. 31 years later, I’m still programming, still interested in the kind of access the 6502 afforded.

By: JulesLt

JulesLt — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:30:29 +0000

An interesting corollary to this is that it also seems that once they start to fail, incumbents often get a second chance (IBM, Apple, HP).

i.e. it’s only once the old business is clearly dying, that energy is really focused on the growth market.

I don’t think this is wholly bureaucracy – a lot of it is down to a share-owned structure, which discourages a company that is making a profit / growing, from restructuring into a smaller, more relevant, firm.

By: jimbo

jimbo — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:05:15 +0000

I think it’s an inevitable result of bureaucratization – a company gets too big, everyone in it becomes more interested in defending their own turf from the other guys in the company than in the customer.

Apple has escaped so far because it’s still run by one man who imposes his will on everything. When he was gone from 85-97, Apple almost became a casualty. Once he’s gone, it will fail within 10-15 years.

By: Vince Heuring

Vince Heuring — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:06:50 +0000

Here’s the view of IBM when they were in “not so good shape.”

http://users.dim.com/~heuring/IBMturnsCorner.pdf

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:55:25 +0000

Wait! You lost the bloody plot with this post. Did you run out of time or what? At the beginning, I expected it to conclude with reasons why HP would succeed or fail with webOS. Instead, you got sidetracked from the opening point. And now you make me wonder if the acquisition of Palm reveals there’s an underground revolution lurking inside HP planning a corporate coup.

By: Rurik Bradbury

Rurik Bradbury — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:55:22 +0000

@Dean Cookson — yes, IBM did a good job of reinventing itself and is now more of a conglomerate (Global Services will deploy HP hardware, Oracle DBs etc — it functions quite independently of the hardware and software arms.). It is the IT equivalent of Yamaha (read the wonderful spoof conglomerate press release at http://www.theonion.com/articles/yamaha-ceo-pleased-with-current-production-of-jet,6871/)

PS above I forgot to mention the greatest ‘coyote’ of all, the current world-reigning failed-neurotransmitter and walking dead champion: AOL!

By: Dean Cookson

Dean Cookson — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:48:58 +0000

IBM very nearly did suffer from it but they re-invented themselves as a services business. A stunningly difficult thing for a company to do…

By: Aaron Holtzman

Aaron Holtzman — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:42:30 +0000

Note that Dave Packard’s book is now back in print: http://www.amazon.com/HP-Way-Hewlett-Business-Essentials/dp/0060845791/

By: Vince Heuring

Vince Heuring — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:10:11 +0000

IMO the reason for the Incumbent’s Curse is a mixture of hubris (We rule!) and fear of disruptive technologies. Easier to bury their heads in the sand than to face the fact that a new technology is going to destroy their business.

It goes back to buggy whip manufacturers, and probably much further than that.

By: Dave Barnes

Dave Barnes — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:06:26 +0000

As an ex-DECie, I can identify with this.
But, why does IBM not suffer from this?

By: Peter Payne

Peter Payne — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:02:42 +0000

Great article, thank!

By the way, I was born in June 1968. Hope I didn’t make you feel old.

By: Rurik Bradbury

Rurik Bradbury — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:37:18 +0000

Yes, a great metaphor, the neurotransmitter disease. Another favorite of mine is the ‘coyote effect’ — when a company is already dead but public perception has not yet caught up with reality. (Just as Wile E Coyote runs off a cliff and stops in mid-air — it is only when he looks down that he then falls).

Agree with TektonikShift about MS/Sun/Nokia. Some more coyotes:
- Palm before HP bought them
- Yahoo (no ‘sufficient reason’ as Leibniz would say)
- AMD (no strength in mobile)

[Hmm, a side question: is Sunnyvale somehow cursed?]

By: TektonikShift

TektonikShift — Sun, 09 May 2010 19:10:20 +0000

“The Incumbent’s Curse works like a neurotransmitter disease”.
Best description of the incumbents curse I have heard.

Microsoft already afflicted, still wealthy but losing clout fast.
Sun was the walking dead before Oracle acquired them.
Nokia is another incumbent on the ropes.

Technology’s market driver is now firmly driven by the mobile industry, with innovation coming from Apple, Google the various upstarts.

By: fahirsch

fahirsch — Sun, 09 May 2010 19:06:40 +0000

HP made extraordinary products at that time. I remember fondly my hp-35 and it’s successors. I once demoed to some friends the quality of the hp-25: I made a calculation, threw the hp-25 to the floor, disassembled it completely, reassembled it again, and it showed the result of the calculation I started with. At the time I used it to calculate data that took about a minute to display. One minute meant that I couldn’t do anything else, because I had to take note of the data point and run the program again. So I bought a TI-68 (I’m not sure of the model) with printer and magnetic cards to hold the program. That’s when I learned about really good engineering years before Mac and Windows: The magnetic cards in the TI-68 usually couldn’t be read by another one. That never happened with hp calculators