At 11:10am on Saturday October 24, 2009 (need to record this, it may be an alltime high),
Amazon listed the following:
Popularity among all books: 8,863
Popularity, Company Profiles: 32
Hot new releases in this category 7
Popularity, Managers Guides to Computing 13
Hot new releases in this category 3
Barnes and Noble listed us as: 138,883 at 11:00am
and 983 at 11:38am
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Peter Burrows interview
Peter Burrows is probably the most astute journalist covering HP; certainly he has "time and grade", having covered them closely for a decade. His book Backfire is still selling, seven years after the events that it covers, and his periodic insights into the HP role and position in the scheme of things for Business Week are among the most trenchant of anything available.
So it was with great anticipation that I met him for lunch today. Guess what? He has a different opinion on a half a dozen great topics, so we had a lot of fun gabbing. My guess is that the book will engender a lot of gabbing, and not a little "what were they smoking?" reaction. Which could be good for public debates, or lively chat rooms, or even interactive blogs.
What do we differ on? Well, for starters, the role that Carly played, the forward prospects for Hurd's leadership, the relative merits of Platt's strategy and people selections, and John Young's contribution. He didn't know much about Ely; respects Hewlett's legacy enormously. I can't wait for the feedback and interaction to begin
So it was with great anticipation that I met him for lunch today. Guess what? He has a different opinion on a half a dozen great topics, so we had a lot of fun gabbing. My guess is that the book will engender a lot of gabbing, and not a little "what were they smoking?" reaction. Which could be good for public debates, or lively chat rooms, or even interactive blogs.
What do we differ on? Well, for starters, the role that Carly played, the forward prospects for Hurd's leadership, the relative merits of Platt's strategy and people selections, and John Young's contribution. He didn't know much about Ely; respects Hewlett's legacy enormously. I can't wait for the feedback and interaction to begin
The book stared back at me
It is on the shelves! Or at least one copy is on one shelf, at the Stanford Bookstore. Heady to see your name and your work, displayed on the top row, the cover facing out. Emotional thrill indeed! They've sold seven already; three left in stock.
My ten free copies went in a flash, can't even remember who to... Well, lessee, several who helped mightily, including Don Hammond, Bob Grimm, Al Bagley and Paul Ely. Several who are working with the material, including Peter Burrows (Biz Week), John Hollar (Computer History Museum), and Gardner Hendrie (CHM also). A couple of Media X clients... and, oh yes, Craig Barrett, re the inclusion about the Glenn Commission and his advocacy of STEM issues.
John Minck got one for being a reviewer, as did Cort Van Rensselaer (Cort actually hasn't gotten his yet), and Bruce Abell. John promptly sent a note that Footnote 5 in Chapter 2 is wrong. There are only 1,127 footnotes in the book, hard to get them all taken care of cleanly.
Heady stuff...
My ten free copies went in a flash, can't even remember who to... Well, lessee, several who helped mightily, including Don Hammond, Bob Grimm, Al Bagley and Paul Ely. Several who are working with the material, including Peter Burrows (Biz Week), John Hollar (Computer History Museum), and Gardner Hendrie (CHM also). A couple of Media X clients... and, oh yes, Craig Barrett, re the inclusion about the Glenn Commission and his advocacy of STEM issues.
John Minck got one for being a reviewer, as did Cort Van Rensselaer (Cort actually hasn't gotten his yet), and Bruce Abell. John promptly sent a note that Footnote 5 in Chapter 2 is wrong. There are only 1,127 footnotes in the book, hard to get them all taken care of cleanly.
Heady stuff...
Monday, October 12, 2009
AT&T -- and the new order
I dropped my Motorola Razr 3G last Thursday. Broke the LCD seal, pretty hard to read it. Jenny said, "let's go get you a new phone". I have an i-Phone, but the sound isn't so hot. I think if the title says "PHONE" it means that it isn't a good one. True, it is fabulous for all those apps, and it has great finger spreading graphics, and a million wonderful reasons to love it, but the phone quality sucks.
Now, I had bought the Razr for a Motorola client meeting in April 2007; it pleased the visitors, who subsequently invited me (and 41 others) to Schaumberg, IL for a Research Advisory Council meeting the first week of September. The i-Phone, you may recall, came out in July that year.
So, when I got to the meeting, I asked at dinner "why didn't you guys invent the i-Phone? Aren't you worried?" Their quick answer: "We did invent this, and we're selling it in China; have been for eighteen months. But it is hard to work with Verizon and AT&T, etc." But the clincher was when they said, "they predict selling one million this year; we sell one million a week".
The next day, I asked the group -- 36 of the 42 raised an i-Phone in the air, six weeks after it came out. And we suggested as a group that M look at Twitter. The answer: doesn't do much.
At the AT&T store last week, there were two Motorola phones on display, amid nearly a hundred from other vendors. Our associate told us that the i-phone accounted for 50% of the store's 2,000 phones sold in September, and RIM Blackberrys were another 24%. Motorola phones were 0.1%. Quite a lesson in broken strategy.
Now, I had bought the Razr for a Motorola client meeting in April 2007; it pleased the visitors, who subsequently invited me (and 41 others) to Schaumberg, IL for a Research Advisory Council meeting the first week of September. The i-Phone, you may recall, came out in July that year.
So, when I got to the meeting, I asked at dinner "why didn't you guys invent the i-Phone? Aren't you worried?" Their quick answer: "We did invent this, and we're selling it in China; have been for eighteen months. But it is hard to work with Verizon and AT&T, etc." But the clincher was when they said, "they predict selling one million this year; we sell one million a week".
The next day, I asked the group -- 36 of the 42 raised an i-Phone in the air, six weeks after it came out. And we suggested as a group that M look at Twitter. The answer: doesn't do much.
At the AT&T store last week, there were two Motorola phones on display, amid nearly a hundred from other vendors. Our associate told us that the i-phone accounted for 50% of the store's 2,000 phones sold in September, and RIM Blackberrys were another 24%. Motorola phones were 0.1%. Quite a lesson in broken strategy.
Chance to chat at the Cupertino Rotary
Jagi Shahani invited me down for a luncheon meeting last week, in the Cupertino civic center, with about 100 Rotarians. Good lunch, great chance to chat about "the old HP". Orrin Mahoney was one of a number of HPites in the audience; he is today mayor of Cupertino, up for re-election. We had fun, discussing whether and to what degree the HP Way had morphed.
Most of the audience was quite surprised, though, to learn the relative revenue for HP, IBM and Dell, not to mention Boeing, AT&T, GE, Intel, and Microsoft
Next stop? Kepler's on November 11. See you there?
Most of the audience was quite surprised, though, to learn the relative revenue for HP, IBM and Dell, not to mention Boeing, AT&T, GE, Intel, and Microsoft
Next stop? Kepler's on November 11. See you there?
Holding a copy "FINALLY"
A mere twenty-two months after 'completion', I got to hold a copy of the book, The HP Phenomenon. And, of course, I 'googled' it to find out that the release date for sale is now October 19 (THIS YEAR). What surprised me was to find out that the HP Phenomenon has become an incredibly popular topic of late... thanks to J.K.Rowling.
How were we to know that when the author of all of those popular Harry Potter books wrote her last book (supposedly) that the series would become titled "HP Phenomenon"? Ah well, fame in a curious way.
Go check the reviews at the Stanford University Press site -- I especially like the one by Don Hammond, one of HP's most important historic contributors.
How were we to know that when the author of all of those popular Harry Potter books wrote her last book (supposedly) that the series would become titled "HP Phenomenon"? Ah well, fame in a curious way.
Go check the reviews at the Stanford University Press site -- I especially like the one by Don Hammond, one of HP's most important historic contributors.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Agilent and the Agilent Way
It might just be rumor, but rumor has it that Agilent has retreated on a long-term employee benefit, that of Retiree Survivor Benefits. Seems the current economic climate is tough enough (and there is no question that it is hard out there) that the Agilent executive team decided to shut down a number of long-cherished items.
Among them -- this one. Since many of the long-term Agilent employees were male, and in "our age bracket" women outlive their spouses by several years, this well could mean a decade's guaranteed income, long counted on as a funded legacy by that most paternalistic of companies, "the old HP", will not happen after all. A cruel decision, one has to think. Unless you are more concerned about shareholders than ex-employees -- Wall Street would doubtless applaud, just as they thrill and rally stock prices when more layoffs and outsourcing is announced.
Hewlett and Packard have had multiple occasions to turn over in those cold graves -- the selloff of Little Basin and the merger/acquisition mania pale alongside pretexting, forfeiture of long-promised benefits, and rules banning executive participation on civic boards. Ethics and a huge belief in the dignity and value and worth of all employees were cardinal elements, weren't they?
Among them -- this one. Since many of the long-term Agilent employees were male, and in "our age bracket" women outlive their spouses by several years, this well could mean a decade's guaranteed income, long counted on as a funded legacy by that most paternalistic of companies, "the old HP", will not happen after all. A cruel decision, one has to think. Unless you are more concerned about shareholders than ex-employees -- Wall Street would doubtless applaud, just as they thrill and rally stock prices when more layoffs and outsourcing is announced.
Hewlett and Packard have had multiple occasions to turn over in those cold graves -- the selloff of Little Basin and the merger/acquisition mania pale alongside pretexting, forfeiture of long-promised benefits, and rules banning executive participation on civic boards. Ethics and a huge belief in the dignity and value and worth of all employees were cardinal elements, weren't they?
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