Heins already faces a number of significant challenges. Rim continues to struggle against rivals, especially in the US market. Product launches have been flawed, and the roadmap forward is unclear. Heins himself is seen as a fresh set of hands to run the business, but is not widely viewed as the visionary leader that RIM needs to reset the bar a failing brand.

If Heins is to capitalize on the opportunity, and for RIM to have a genuine chance at regaining momentum, his first step will be to stabilize initiatives already underway and prevent any short term missteps. It will also be critical that Heins quickly brings serious management and creative talent to the table – quelling some of the fire sale rumors and giving shareholders confidence in a long term strategy.

Read more in these articles:

WSJ

Engadget

InfoWorld

Licensing and revenue sharing details about open source webOS are yet to be announced, but look for HP to be especially flexible on both fronts. Read more here from the BBC.

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose,” Mr. Jobs said in a commencement speech at Stanford University in June 2005, almost a year after he was diagnosed with cancer.”

Read the full article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576410753210811910.html

Gabe Cole, who leads the Telwares IT Transformation Practice, addressed all three angles when he stated “A colleague put it best when he said HP is a tremendously tormented company. Fundamentally, there is conflict between high volume lines that provide short-term financial boosts (such as printers, desktops, notebooks, etc.), and focusing on more valuable enterprise and services plays. Both of the previous CEOs tried to break that cycle and failed as a result of different personal “flaws”…Hurd violated board standards and Apotheker was aloof and failed to build a team. It is safe to say that neither won the favor of the board. This is likely the endgame for HP.”

HP is heavily woven into the computing fabric of leading organizations, and has been driving advances in consumer PC, storage and cloud computing markets for years. Through their announced acquisition of Autonomy, economics aside, we know they directionally understand the services market going forward and the value of a big data play in staying competitive with rivals. This is not a business that will unwind overnight. That said, large enterprises are increasingly risk-averse and looking to source their next-generation network and computing strategies with a primary partner – the public soap opera that is HP over the past several years, along with a 49% drop in stock price, will not bolster enterprise confidence that HP is the partner of choice.

“Meg Whitman and Ray Lane must take decisive action in the first 90 days to shake up the board and management if HP is to survive as an independent company. Incremental smoothing will no longer suffice as HP needs to redefine and focus on its corporate soul which somehow it lost along the way” added Cole.

To that end, communications to both employees and the public has been challenging for HP and has played a major role in the turbulence related to the organization. It’s been a disastrous combination of messaging from leadership to customers and employees in stark contrast to very public actions. Customers are left to discern what the truth is concerning strategic intent, and for employees how it will ultimately affect them personally and professionally. Even Meg Whitman’s first memo to the organization, undoubtedly aimed at creating some sense of reassurance and stability, misfired. The text was riddled with references to “we”, meaning Meg and Executive Chairman Ray Lane. Based on that intonation, there will be questions about who is in charge – and everyone is left to question just how viable the organization will be. In both cases HP erodes what is ultimately most valuable in the open market: trust and credibility.

Despite the public drama and speculation, the announcement of Meg Whitman could prove to be a positive turning point for HP. Whitman has a number of hits under her belt, including growing eBay into a powerhouse organization of over $8B and successfully purchasing PayPal. She brings with her the confidence of Silicon Valley, and the (mandated) support of her Board and Executive Chairman. Her roots in consumer businesses might also be the alternate perspective required to reinvent the companies vision and overhaul lines of business.

Enterprises should not erase HP as a potential supplier, but should apply a heavy dose of “wait and see” for the next few months. HP needs to quickly rebuild its stock price and regain credibility through crisp actions from Whitman, or risk being sold off in parts. If Whitman is not successful, there is no reason for any business to take on all that uncertainty when there are other, perfectly viable partners available.

What could be interesting for business was the introduction of Amazon Silk – basically a cloud-accelerated “split browser” that relies on Amazon’s EC2 cloud servers for faster web access. Based on the presentation from Bezos, Silk can learn from the behaviors of all users and determine how to best render specific content, pages and sites. This is not a new concept, but given how much of the popular web is already hosted by Amazon and the data-crunching ability of EC2 to make real time content decisions, this could prove valuable when extended to broader applications.

Rounding out today’s announcements were The Kindle Touch, with a touch screen and no keypad, that will retail for just $99. With the introduction of X-Ray (inline reference materials are downloaded with books, in the context of the book’s content), an extended battery, more storage capability, and a sleek form factor, this device will certainly be the grand slam of e-readers during the last calendar quarter of the year. There will also be a 3G variant, the Kindle Touch 3G, which will offer wireless connectivity in over 100 countries at $50 – for life. Also announced was an updated base Kindle – complete with buttons but minus the touch screen and X–Ray capabilities. The grab for this device will be the price point, at just $79.

The “full-duplex” technology developed by engineers at Rice University also could allow wireless phone companies to double throughput on their networks without adding a single cell tower.
“Our solution requires minimal new hardware, both for mobile devices and for networks, which is why we’ve attracted the attention of just about every wireless company in the world,” says Ashutosh Sabharwal, professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Read the full article here: Double wireless capacity with ‘full-duplex’.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice launched an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T over its proposed merger with T-Mobile. In a NY Times article, Sharis A. Pozen, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s antitrust division was quoted saying “Unless this merger is blocked, competition and innovation will be reduced, and consumers will suffer.” In an issued statement, Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC added “Competition is an essential component of the FCC’s statutory public interest analysis, and although our process is not complete, the record before this agency also raises serious concerns about the impact of the proposed transaction on competition. Vibrant competition in wireless services is vital to innovation, investment, economic growth and job creation, and to drive our global leadership in mobile. Competition fosters consumer benefits, including more choices, better service and lower prices.” Ten years ago, this would have been a complete argument.

If the Department of Justice and the FCC are truly concerned about impacts on future investment, job creation, continued innovation and competition, it might be time to evaluate the merits of a transaction in light of what drives the marketplace. Today, the real innovation that creates sustained growth and competition isn’t coming from the network service provider. It’s coming from the likes of Apple, Google, Motorola, Facebook, Amazon, Samsung, HTC, and many others. It’s driven by thousands of developers who are fueling new use cases and applications. It’s supported by enterprise software makers, media and entertainment, energy and healthcare companies extending their products to the mobile edge. And most important, all this innovation is ultimately being implemented by a consumer base that has shown their hunger and unstoppable desire for mobile capabilities.

In addition, for wireless service providers, the availability of spectrum assets remains a paramount concern. All of this mobile innovation in products and services does require, in the end, a network to support the experience. This wireless connectivity also represents a potential efficiency in rural markets, extending the promise of broadband to millions of people beyond major corridors and NFL cities. Cited extensively in the AT&T merger documents as a key efficiency gain, bandwidth and spectrum in most markets remains one area of competitive differentiation for providers. Unfortunately, that differentiation is partially grounded in a well-publicized and challenged bidding process. The FCC specifically should continue to evaluate the relationship between spectrum requirements and competitive impacts, and the mechanism for getting spectrum to the marketplace for commercial use. This merger is a great opportunity for that evaluation, since the FCC cites our global leadership position in mobile technology as a specific concern in this transaction. Uplifting spectrum policy benefits the industry as a whole, and removes barriers that could restrict future innovation in products and services.

The Department of Justice, the FCC and all constituencies involved in the disposition of this merger should be applauded for their time and effort ensuring the public, and our country, is not adversely affected by this transaction. We can only hope the lens used for inspection of this deal moving forward is not clouded by the tenets of a market that has long since matured and moved on.

Big Data

The acquisition of Autonomy gives HP a strong play in big data, a sore spot for many large organizations with terabytes of information flowing through a variety of disparate systems. It empowers HP to quickly make innovations to their professional services offerings, and capitalize on the existing client footprints of both organizations. The best part? It will give them autonomy – no pun intended – from their deep integration and dependance on Oracle, and frees them to better compete with IBM on the enterprise software and service front. Autonomy was the purchaser of Iron Mountain’s digital business, and has made great strides in strengthening proprietary methodologies for delivering IP. Autonomy is strong internationally, adding value by helping to emphasize HP’s service strength outside of the US market.

The Mobile Front

HP’s WebOS has been hailed by many as a great platform to develop, packed with features, and possessed all the attributes necessary to be a leading contender in the smartphone and tablet space. However, the rules of market engagement have changed significantly in the past several years. The ultimate success of any mobile OS relies on checking critical boxes in the go to market strategy: a strong ecosystem of developers, high quality applications, and adoption on innovative devices. Over the past year, HP has been unable to check any of these. The TouchPad has never gained ground, and developers continued to hedge their futures on established markets with Apple, Google and Microsoft. Even RIM looks good in context.

Future Dependencies

While the announcement from HP holds great promise, there are gaps. First and foremost, there are no identified buyers for the PC business. Suitors are sure to appear, but the path to closure on this asset remains to be seen. A long, drawn out spin off will seriously defocus and impair HP’s ability to execute on other initiatives. Second, HP has a strong, entrenched culture that will require finessing as the business shifts and transforms its focus to software and services. While this territory may be comfortable for CEO Leo Apotheker, employees will need a strong shepherd to ensure success. HP faces a tough and expensive uphill battle in this space, and positive inroads will take time. Finally, HP needs to find a strong set of partners – quickly – to carry WebOS into the marketplace. The company has assured employees it won’t “give up” on the mobile OS, but that is little solace to employees or investors looking at adoption rates and market penetrations of competing platforms.

To see the original HP press release, please visit http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110818b.html

Strong platform to further develop a unified Android

Google may be enjoying rocket-propelled growth of Android penetration in the marketplace, but it’s fractured. They remain the only viable competitor to Apple for an “ecosystem” play, encompassing hardware, software, apps and value-added services. Since Android is an “open” platform, many iterations exist. The transaction will give Google some leverage and a channel for unifying Android in the future, and provide a more cohesive baseline for developers and consumers.

Massively reduced cost in developing tablets and other form factors

Google has a less than stellar history in bringing hardware to the marketplace. Motorola knows how to effectively and efficiently design, develop, manufacture, and launch winning devices on a global scale. This expertise will serve Google well in the mobile space initially, and perhaps on an expanded scale as Google pursues more in-home, lifestyle strategies for creating revenue – such as Google TV.

Supplier and channel relationships

Motorola knows the supplier space well, and represents an alternative relationship to the relationships Google has fostered through Android and its mobile applications. This transaction should add a needed dimension to Google’s interaction with the players who bring the ecosystems to market, and will add leverage to future opportunities for pushing Google-based standards and revenue initiatives. Remember, Google still remains a search technology and advertising company at its core. This relationship expertise, and the acquisition of the executives who built the relationships, will be critical to Google’s success.

Access to the Motorola Solutions business

Google has plenty of options in bringing applications, cloud services, and business solutions to a broader audience. The Motorola Solutions business has enjoyed strong results and maintains a potent base of clients in the private and public sectors, giving Google a solid path of entry if terms and conditions can be made attractive for both parties. Also, for Motorola Solutions, Google represents a much less expensive think tank for experimenting in unified communications, collaboration and social media strategies. There is plenty of upside for both organizations to make this compelling once the deal is complete.

 
Streaming video, VoIP, and Twitter are consuming more mobile bandwidth, degrading service, and pushing carriers to raise 3G prices
 
“It’s not popular to say it, but users can’t expect to consume unlimited amounts of bandwidth and not pay for it. Carriers, though, certainly bear some responsibility. All you need to do is watch a few ads for AT&T, Verizon Wireless, or T-Mobile touting all the terrific new things you can do on their networks. “The carriers are bearing the brunt of increased demand, but at the same time, they’re doing everything they can to spur it,” says Michael Voellinger, executive vice president of Telwares, a telecommunications consultancy.

What’s more, the carriers — particularly AT&T — need to work harder at optimizing their networks and adding capacity to meet the demand they’ve helped create. Peak-time users are already noticing congesting, and as available spectrum gets sucked up, we’re about two years away from seeing a significant 3G bandwidth shortage, says Voellinger.”

Read the full article here.