The 2010s

On April 28, 2010, Palm, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard announced that HP would be acquiring Palm for $1.2 billion in cash and debt. In the months leading up to the buyout, it was rumored that Palm was going to be purchased by either HTC, Dell, RIM or HP.

On August 6, 2010, CEO Mark Hurd resigned amid controversy and CFO Cathie Lesjak assumed the role of interim CEO. On September 30, 2010, Léo Apotheker was named as HP’s new CEO and President. Apotheker’s appointment sparked a strong reaction from Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison, who complained that Apotheker had been in charge of SAP when one of its subsidiaries was systematically stealing software from Oracle. SAP accepted that its subsidiary, which has now closed, illegally accessed Oracle intellectual property.

On August 18, 2011, HP announced that it would strategically exit the smartphone and tablet computer business, focusing on higher-margin “strategic priorities of Cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets”.  

The 2000s

HP logo used from 2008 to 2012

On September 3, 2001, HP announced that an agreement had been reached with Compaq  to merge the two companies. In May, 2002, after passing a shareholder vote, HP officially merged with Compaq. Prior to this, plans had been in place to consolidate the companies’ product teams and product lines.

In 1998, Compaq had already taken over Digital Equipment Corporation. That is why HP still offers support for PDP-11, VAX and AlphaServer.

In the year 2004 HP released the DV 1000 Series, including the HP Pavilion dv 1658 and 1040 two years later in May 2006, HP began its campaign, The Computer is Personal Again. The campaign was designed to bring back the fact that the PC is a personal product.

The 1980s

HP logo used from 1981 to 2008

In 1984, HP introduced both inkjet and laser printers for the desktop. Along with its scanner product line, these have later been developed into successful multifunction products, the most significant being single-unit printer/scanner/copier/fax machines. The print mechanisms in HP’s tremendously popular LaserJet line of laser printers depend almost entirely on Canon’s components (print engines), which in turn use technology developed by Xerox. HP develops the hardware, firmware, and software that convert data into dots for the mechanism to print.

On March 3, 1986, HP registered the HP.com domain name, making it the ninth Internet .com domain ever to be registered.

In 1987, the Palo Alto garage where Hewlett and Packard started their business was designated as a California State historical landmark.

The 1970s

HP logo, mid-1970s

The HP 3000 was an advanced stack-based design for a business computing server, later redesigned with RISC technology. The HP 2640 series of smart and intelligent terminals introduced forms-based interfaces to ASCII terminals, and also introduced screen labeled function keys, now commonly used on gas pumps and bank ATMs. The HP 2640 series included one of the first bit mapped graphics displays that when combined with the HP 2100 21MX F-Series microcoded Scientific Instruction Set enabled the first commercial WYSIWYG Presentation Program, BRUNO that later became the program HP-Draw on the HP 3000. Although scoffed at in the formative days of computing, HP would eventually surpass even IBM as the world’s largest technology vendor, in terms of sales.

The 1960s

HP is recognized as the symbolic founder of Silicon Valley, although it did not actively investigate semiconductor devices until a few years after the “traitorous eight” had abandoned William Shockley to create Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957. Hewlett-Packard’s HP Associates division, established around 1960, developed semiconductor devices primarily for internal use. Instruments and calculators were some of the products using these devices.

HP partnered in the 1960s with Sony and the Yokogawa Electric companies in Japan to develop several high-quality products. The products were not a huge success, as there were high costs in building HP-looking products in Japan. HP and Yokogawa formed a joint venture (Yokogawa-Hewlett-Packard) in 1963 to market HP products in Japan. HP bought Yokogawa Electric’s share of Hewlett-Packard Japan in 1999.

HP in pictures

Founding

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard graduated with degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1935. The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford during the Great Depression. Terman was considered a mentor to them in forming Hewlett-Packard. In 1939, Packard and Hewlett established Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Packard’s garage with an initial capital investment of 538$. Hewlett and Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. Packard won the coin toss but named their manufacturing enterprise the “Hewlett-Packard Company”. HP incorporated on August 18, 1947, and went public on November 6, 1957. 

Who is ‘HP’?

Hewlett-Packard logo used from 1981 to 2008

What many people don’t know about Hewlett Packard (HP) — the popular computer manufacturing giant — is that the company is actually quite old by American standards. Its influence spans over nearly six decades. With the company’s humble beginnings, HP has grown into a computer empire influencing several countries and industries over the course of their existence. In fact, many other popular computer companies and competitors have developed innovative technology based on patents pioneered by HP decades ago.

Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered inPalo Alto, California, United States. It provides products, technologies, software, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses(SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors.