Lenovo Bites Back at HP Whitman’s Sniping
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) chief executive Meg Whitman twice in the past few weeks publicly (and bluntly) has suggested that IBM’s $2.3 billion sale of its x86 server business to Chinese PC giant Lenovo will confuse the channel in the short term, affording HP an unusual opportunity to grab some lost market share and sales.
Lenovo is fighting back after Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) chief executive Meg Whitman publicly (and bluntly) suggested more than once that IBM’s $2.3 billion sale of its x86 server business to Lenovo will confuse the channel in the short term, affording HP an unusual opportunity to grab some lost market share and sales.
Two weeks ago, at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference, Whitman said: “We think there is a real near-term opportunity for HP to actually gain share among some of our competitors who appear to be a little less stable than we do right now. I’ve to say we look like the paradigm of stability in the industry right now, and so we’d aim to capitalize on that.”
This followed remarks Whitman made following HP’s better-than-expected Q1 2014 performance, when she said of Lenovo’s picking up IBM’s x86 server business: “As a change of ownership occurs, is the roadmap the same, is the investment the same, is the market to be the same, is the service going to be the same?”
Apparently, the “little less stable” snipe got to Lenovo. Not surprisingly, the typically demure company had kept its collective mouth shut—until now. On March 18 the company issued a memo written by Gerry Smith, Lenovo Enterprise Business Group president, urging the server sales team to ignore the “uncertainty and doubt” its competitors are peddling in the acquisition’s wake.
“As the old saying goes, those who live in glass houses, shouldn’t throw stones,” Smith wrote, following Whitman’s lead to make his references clear, yet not name names. And then, according to an IT News account, he addressed the “less stable” charge.
“Our competitors in the enterprise space are both in the midst of major corporate transitions,” wrote Smith. “As their customers try to avoid the real uncertainty and doubt created by those upheavals, you should feel very confident in presenting Lenovo and the great products and services we offer.
“Most important, we are committed to IBM’s product roadmap, and will extend support to end-of-life for any current product offerings,” he wrote in the memo. “We bought this business with the promise of continuity to customers, both ours and IBM’s.”
Harumph. Take that. So there, HP.
