HP declares victory (and no you can't see the votes)

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://theregister.co.uk/content/7/24492.html">http://theregister.co.uk/content/7/24492.html</a><br /><br />Although The Register isn't known for accuracy in reporting, the results of the Compaq-HP merger don't surprise me that much if this is true. And I have a hunch that Jornada line will bite the dust 24 months from now when it's all said and done. Pity - I quite like my Jornada!<br /><br />"Hewlett-Packard today declared its victory in the proxy battle to takeover Compaq by a small majority. It bases this on a tally of the votes from major institutional shareholders. So all you retail shareholders, your proxy votes are important only insofar as the size of the majority. <br /><br />So it's all over bar the counting? Not quite, Walter Hewlett Jr, the dissident director and son of a founder, who led the battle to stop the merger, refuses to concede defeat to Princess Fiorina just yet. The count is expected to take up to four weeks to complete." Source: Christopher Coulter

[bbarker]

And I have a hunch that Jornada line will bite the dust 24 months from now when it's all said and done. Pity - I quite like my Jornada! Jason, I'm curious why you assume the Jornada will be the casualty instead of the iPaq. True the iPaq has bigger sales numbers and is a quality machine. But for business use I prefer the Jornada. The Jornada has come out swinging with its 560 series and plenty of accessories. It handles expansion more gracefully and is a lot easier to pocket. (These are my observations and the reason I picket the 568 after studying both product lines. For others the iPaq obviously is the better choice. I'm not trying to stir the embers of the healthy, ongoing Jornada vs. iPaq discussion.)

Maybe they'll merge the lines and provide the best of both worlds, or we'll get two model families.

Anyway, why do you assume the iPaq will win?

[Jason Dunn]

Anyway, why do you assume the iPaq will win?


You said it yourself in your opening statement: the iPAQ blew the doors off the 1st generation devices, and thus has far more industry support and momentum than any other Pocket PC. Trust me, I'd PREFER to see the Jornada win out, but I don't see that happening. We'll see if I'm right or wrong in a year or so. :-)

[Foo Fighter]

And the dish ran away with the spoon....

[spg]

&lt;sarcasm>
I have a feeling we have another Florida on our hands. :wink: At least, as Fiorna said, this time the voters checked a box, so we don't end up with hanging chads, and dimpled chads and the like. :roll:
&lt;/sarcasm>

Ok so maybe not. But anyway I agree with Jason, it is likely the Jornada will get the boot. Although you never know, these companies have suprised us before. How about a jPAQ or an iJornada? :wink:

[Terry]

I think with the recent musings of the Hewletts and Packards, the new company will be split into two divisions:

Compaq Computers, a division of HP Invent and
Compaq Printers, a division of HP Invent.

Or they'll come up with a new name like Fiorna Invent.

You won't see anything with Hewlett or Packard spelled out on anything anywhere (they'll keep HP on the printers for a year or two, just for marketing recognition).

The final result will be an iPAQ with a flip lid called the fPAQ (pronunciations anyone???).

Or the whole merged company will fail and the final result will be Hit-Clips advanced (ask the pre-teen in your house).

[Andy Sjostrom]

Bring in the Florida counters... It's ironic that two IT giants choose paper over digital. The vote would have been counted in a fraction of a second...

On the HP Jornada vs Compaq iPAQ: I believe they will stick with both, grabbing a great opportunity to have get a valuable double-edged sword. Imagine what could be done: high-end enterprise vs high-end consumer, maximum integration vs maximum expansion etc etc.

[heliod]

Nothing prevents them from keeping both lines. It is right that the IPAQ was more successfull in the first generation, but the Jornada has also a very big number of adepts. Keeping both lines they would go for two different kinds of users, and that could prove to be their (right) strategy. I hope they think like me, I really do prefer the Jornada over the IPAQ.

[vetteguy]

I doubt Fiorina is going to keep much that's original Compaq. While it would make perfect sense to keep both lines (since the iPAQ is arguably more successful than the Jornada) this is less of a merger than a takeover. iPAQ goes away, everyone buys Jornada. Here's hoping they keep some of the iPAQ team on staff at least in the beginning.

[Jason Dunn]

Nothing prevents them from keeping both lines.


I disagree. It would be a branding and marketing nightmare to keep both products. I think they'll merge into one within 24 months, with the iPAQ being the dominant device. Although they may keep the Jornada form factor and offer a low-end device...

[Foo Fighter]

I'm going to side with Jason on this. It's always been my suspicion that, should the merger go through, one of the PDA lines would be sacrificed. Having two seemingly identical product lines doesn't make much sense from a marketing standpoint. The only possible advantage would be to target each line at two different markets: iPaq for the corporate market, and Jornada for the consumer/education market. But considering what small marketshare PocketPC has in those markets, the Jornada wouldn't be worth the cost of production.

[Russ Smith]

Well, the official line is that both Pocket PC lines will continue for a time (whatever that means). My suspicion, like Jason's is that one, probably the Jornada, will become history. When you've invested as much as either have in a design, doing a start-from-scratch is a hard sell. That said, I'd really like to see them go back and design a Pocket PC that has the best of both lines. At the very least, I expect we'll get a PPC with no dust problems, some sort of sleeve technology, and (I hope, I hope) no weird display addressing, bad backlighting, or dark colors.

[Chubbergott]

I know people who argue about how to pronounce 'Jornada'. Is it 'J' as in 'Jason' or a 'J' as in 'Hallelujah'?

So, the new PDA could be called the iOrnada or the jPack?

[dochall]

Let's face it the overlap in the PPC range is minor compared to some of the problems they are going to have in larger machines.

The HP9000/Tru64 and the Proliant/NetServer(?) will be the interesting area for senior management at least to start with. Oh and the services where I don't think HP are buying what they think they are buying (and I'm in a position to know).

There is going to be lots of fall out prior to them sorting any of the decisions out. I can't seem them just killing off either the Jordana or the ipaq for the next generation. Ultimately there is going to be a single range but I wouldn't expect to see it for at least a year and I would guess it would take the best from both. In the meantime they are going to be having fun trying to comfort the enterprises that they are both going to continue, if your in the middle of a deal for 4000 ppc's for a mobile salesforce you need to give confidence that they aren't going to see either disappear in the short to medium term.