UK Edition
HP boss Dion Weisler: Apple's strategy is Apple's strategy but we want to create categories
In the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in Versailles this week, at a luxury conference attended by the likes of Chanel and Tiffany, Silicon Valley stalwart Hewlett-Packard Inc made an unexpected launch – a new high-end laptop.
This wasn’t just any laptop, its chief executive Dion Weisler hastened to explain in HP’s glass-walled, open-plan London offices. “This is the world’s thinnest laptop, measuring 10.4mm in thickness, codenamed Saffron,” he told the Telegraph, showing off the sleek black rectangle, with an all-new gold HP logo.
“It’s almost invisible, hold it just so, or you can’t see it.” This is Spectre - one of the cornerstones of Weisler’s plan to make HP the cutting-edge, innovative technology company it once was.
Weisler's mission: save PCs
Weisler has got his work cut out for him. When HP split in October, it carved out its shrinking PC and printing arm to protect its profitable software division from the downturn in the hardware market, leaving Weisler to lead the $50bn hardware company HP Inc, which has almost $5bn of operating profit today.
Last year, global PC sales suffered their worst decline in history, falling 10.6 per cent from 2014. HP’s market share fell 10.1 pc in the last quarter of 2015, compared to the same period in 2014. HP Inc had led the PC market since 2006, before being overtaken by Chinese rival Lenovo in 2013.
It hasn’t been able to take back its lead since. Last year, HP Inc. saw a 14pc drop in year-on-year revenues, two-thirds of which come from PC sales (although 80pc of its profit comes from its printers business).
48-year-old Weisler is an ebullient Australian-born veteran of the computing industry, having previously worked for PC makers Acer and Lenovo. “So I have pretty good insight into the competition,” he said.
Weisler outlines his plan for HP’s future in surfing metaphors and whiteboard sketches, with a refreshing energy for a man leading a company that desperately needs reinvention.
“What the really top surfers do is they look up the weather, to try to determine through the data available where the next big Wednesday will fall, where the swell is coming from,” he said. “That’s what we have to do. We have to get into the category creation business.”
Weisler hopes the new premium laptops can squeeze Apple, which bucked the trend to increase its PC market share by 2.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to figures from analyst IDC.
“Apple’s strategy is Apple’s strategy, but we are a brand for all people, including at the premium end,” he shrugs.
But as more of us move towards touchscreen phones and tablets for our daily needs, laptops – even high-end luxury models like the new Spectre – will become less relevant.
PC giants all miss the boat on mobile
Encroaching aggressively on the PC’s niche is the “phablet” – large smartphones like the iPhone 6s Plus, with massive screens that double up as a mobile computer, carving out a new vertical for themselves.
According to analytics firm Nielsen, the market share for these phone-tablet hybrids doubled from 5.6pc of all non-Apple phones in early 2014 to 13.7pc in 2015, increasing steadily each month.
As Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook told the Telegraph last year: “I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?”
Meanwhile, HP – similar to other legacy PC giants including Microsoft and Dell – has completely missed the boat on mobile. Industry experts have described its many attempts at smartphones, including its $1.2bn acquisition Palm – as “uninspired, and entirely forgettable.”
The ageing giant needs a new plan, beyond just making better laptops or smartphones. “For us to go and make a pure smartphone is not a smart thing to do, but what is smart is to give birth to a new category. That’s what we intend to do,” Weisler said.
A computer in your pocket
His first attempt is the HP Elite X3 – a three-in-one device for workers of the future, which was launched in Barcelona in February.
“It’s not a phablet, desktop or notebook, it’s all three. The compute power lives in here,” Weisler said, pointing at the 6-inch large device. In practice, this means the “phablet” can be used as a Windows phone, but is as powerful as a laptop.
Using a new Windows 10 feature known as Continuum, the “phone” can connect to a portable HP monitor, transforming into a full-blown Windows computer.
“You carry one device that’s every device. The shell has a screen and keyboard with battery and it wirelessly links to the device in your pocket,” Weisler gushed.
The device isn’t actually on sale yet, but Weisler is clear that this isn’t meant to be another attempt at making a consumer smartphone with extras thrown in.
The X3 is targeted squarely at power users who want to access and edit complex files like Excel spreadsheets on the go, without being tied to an office setup – a growing trend as millenials enter the workforce.
Breaking out of the bubble
HP’s second big bet for the future is 3D printing – a market that Gartner projects will grow globally from $1.6bn in 2015 to $13.4bn in 2018.
It’s unlikely that HP can turn its fortunes round by aiming at this relatively insignificant consumer market – but that isn’t the plan Weisler emphasises.
“What we are interesting in democratising the $12 trillion injection moulding manufacturing industry – which hasn’t happened since the industrial revolution.”
HP’s first 3D printers, which Weisler says will leverage IP from billions of dollars worth of printing research, will launch at the end of 2016.
As Weisler heads off to put his ambitious plan into action, the Telegraph asks whether he is enjoying the Apple Watch he has on.
“I try everything, I like to deeply understand all our competitor’s products,” he said. “I like to take what’s great and see if we can make it better. If you live in a bubble and have blinkers on, that’s a dangerous place to be.”