HP CEO Blames Windows 10 For Poor Sales

The head of HP’s PC business has claimed that the launch of Windows 10 actually damaged his company’s financial results for the last quarter.

Dion Weisler, CEO of HP Inc, which looks after the company’s PC and printer business, said that Microsoft’s launch of the free update appeared to have affected sales as consumers were holding off buying new products.

“Windows 10 is a tremendous operating system platform,” Weisler told analysts and investors on a conference call discussing the results. “But we have not yet seen the anticipated Win10 stimulation of demand that we would hope for.

Improving

“Our PC lines are being redrawn at the moment, and the goal has been to gain profitable [market] share.

“In the back half of this year, revenue will begin to improve as our technology improves and channel inventory works its way out of the system.”

Overall, HP’s results, the first as an independent company, had seen a decline in revenues and sales, despite covering the lucrative Christmas shopping period.

The company revealed that its Notebook products brought in $4.2 billion (£3.0bn) in revenues, down 11 percent year-on-year, Desktops generated $2.5 billion (£1.79bn), down 14 percent, and workstations took $444 million (£318m) in sales, down 16 percent.

Perking up

On the call, Weisler also mentioned “accelerated restructuring,” which means that the company’s axing of 3,000 staff, previously thought to be happening over the next three years, will now take place by the end of 2016, well ahead of schedule.

Perhaps looking to mediate the slightly gloomy tone, CFO Cathie Lesjak reassured listeners that “PC declines will moderate over the course of the year.”

HP Inc will now be hoping for a swift turnaround from this disappointing quarter, with devices such as the Elite X3, revealed at this week’s Mobile World Congress event, to spur on new sales.

The company also revealed the slimline Elitebook Folio laptop (pictured above) at CES as it looks to jump on the trend for business-focused portable devices such as the Surface Pro 4 and iPad Pro.

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