HP updates 2011

Another interesting fact about HP is that the initial capital investment of the company was only US$538. When it came to naming their company, the two engineers had a friendly conflict; should it be Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. To solve this conflict, they tossed a coin and Packard won coin toss. However, he named the company the Hewlett-Packard Company. In the beginning, HP did not focus on a single line of items. They produced a wide range of electronic equipment. A few years later they focused on high-quality test products including voltmeter and counters. However, later they kept adding various items to their manufacturing list.
The first two milestones by HP are: on 18th August, 1947, HP became a corporation and went public on 6th November 1957. There are thousands of interesting facts related to HP, especially in its early age. One of them is: it is believed that HP produced the first personal computer but to stick to the market they called it a calculator. HP is also recognized as the so-called founder of Silicon Valley.
During 1960s, HP collaborated with two other leading hardware Japanese manufacturers: Sony and the Yokogawa Electric. This partnership resulted in various high-quality products. However, these products saw little success due to higher costs. During the same era, HP spun off a company first known as Dynac and later renamed as Dymec. This also proved to be a big failure and this smaller firm was folded back into HP.
In 1970s, redesigning with RISC technology, HP produced a stack-based business computing server. This server was very successful. HP came up with countless other innovations during 70s including first symbolic and graphing calculator, the HP-28C, the famous desktop series 9100A, HP 3000 series and many other to surpass its biggest competitor IBM in terms of sales.
In the early 1980s, first HP inkjet and laser printers were introduced in the markets. These were originally meant for the desktop. These reliable printers would finally become the identity of HP around the globe. However, at the same time HP offered high-quality scanners and superior multifunction products like -unit printer/scanner/copier/fax machines. However, these products obtained huge appraisal during 1990s.
During 1990s, HP turned their focus form business organization and large academic institutes to normal consumer. The two major acquisitions: buying Apollo Computer in 1989 and Convex Computer in 1995 proved to be greatly beneficial for HP. Towards the end of 1990s, HP came up with the biggest spin off ever in the form of Agilent. All the business not directly related to computer products was given to Agilent.
With the start of new century, HP and Compaq signed an agreement for merger. In 2002 the actual merger between the two biggest companies of computer took place. Since this merger, HP has produced countless products including desktops, notebooks, netbooks etc. with extremely good quality.
These days HP holds the largest share of printer and scanner market. Various trustworthy models are offered for personal and business use. Finding HP products, from a cheap digital camera to an exclusive notebook is very easy all over the world. People do not hesitate to buy the product when the see the most famous brand name, HP.
In 2010 HP’s revenue peaked at $126.3 billion, which in 2009 was around $115 billion. It is estimated that only after sales services earned approximately $40 billion. The most fierce market competition between IBM and HP in 2006, tipped in HP’s favor with the company collecting revenue of US$91.7 billion while IBM peaked at $91.4 billion. However, in 2009 this gap between these two giant companies widened to $21 billion. HP became the first IT based company in 2007 to report revenues exceeding $100 billion. In 2008, HP held the major share of market with its ever famous products: inkjet, laser, large format and multi-function printers market. According to IDC & Gartner, at that time HP was the second largest IT Company around the world.
Though many people are not aware of this, HP, the one of the most famous and largest companies of the world has a unique lifestyle known as The HP Way. The HP Way is described by one of the two founders, Bill Hewlett, as “a core ideology … which includes a deep respect for the individual, a dedication to affordable quality and reliability, a commitment to community responsibility, and a view that the company exists to make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity.”
HP is one of the most respectable brands around the world. Another interesting feature about HP is its logo. Even the company has a long history of over seventy years, its logo experience minimum changes over the time. Experts believe that its sheer simplicity is the main reason for its consistency. As revealed by a Business Week Study recently, HP is currently the world’s 11th most valuable brand.