Global CIO: HP Ousts Hurd And Seeks Software Strategy: Top 10 Story #3

"HP should be more valuable than the sum of its parts," Apotheker said in a conference call with analysts.

"And in order to make that happen, we all believe, and HP has a long-standing commitment to that, that software is sort of the glue to make that happen. Software is how we differentiate on our industry-standard platform. Software is how we can make sure that the various parts of our technology actually fit well together.

"It's not only software though. Also higher value-added services are increasingly an important element and an important component in the strategy as well. So you should see us working on all of these elements."

He was then asked why type of software HP will invest in: "You know, HP has such a diversified mix of businesses and products and services that I believe that we are uniquely positioned to be a strong player in every part of the stack."

Pretty bland stuff, to be sure—after all, Apotheker's only been on the job for several weeks and the company has said he's been traveling the world to meet with customers and employees. But one person very close to HP had some things to say about Apotheker and HP that were anything but bland—and here's a choice example from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison:

"I'm speechless," [Ellison] wrote in an email to the Wall Street Journal. "HP had several good internal candidates…but instead they pick a guy who was recently fired because he did such a bad job of running SAP."

Well, now everyone will be watching to see what kind of job Apotheker does in running HP in 2011.

RECOMMENDED READING: Global CIO: Hewlett-Packard's Missing Link Is Analytics Global CIO: Burying Mark Hurd: Hewlett-Packard And Its Future Global CIO: Hewlett-Packard's CEO: The Top 10 Challenges Global CIO: Has HP Found Its Next CEO? Global CIO: Larry Ellison And Mark Hurd: The Job Interview Global CIO: Resurrecting Mark Hurd: Larry Ellison's War With IBM Global CIO: Gunning For IBM And Oracle, HP Plans Optimized Systems Blitz Global CIO: HP's $130-Billion Gamble Global CIO: HP CEO Apotheker Has Deep Expertise But Checkered History Global CIO: An Open Letter To HP CEO Leo Apotheker Global CIO: Larry Ellison Puts HP In Crosshairs Via Slap At New CEO Global CIO: Larry Ellison's Heightened Attacks On HP Doom Alliance Global CIO: Are HP And SAP Perfect Match Or Train Wreck? Global CIO: Top 10 Most Influential Vendors, Part 2 (Microsoft And HP?) Global CIO: In Larry Ellison's Legal Battle With SAP, HP Is Collateral Damage Global CIO: Can HP's CEO Survive? The Board Talks It Over Global CIO: HP CEO Leo Apotheker's Agenda: What Will He Do First? Global CIO: IBM Details Raids On Customers From HP And Oracle Bob Evans is senior VP and director of InformationWeek's Global CIO unit.

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