HP's Hurd Shrugs Off Dell's Channel, Retail Plans

Hewlett-Packard Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd on Wednesday shrugged off news about rival Dell's plan to expand its footprint in the commercial reseller channel and enter the retail space.

In a conference call with financial analysts about HP's second-quarter results, Hurd said his strategy has been winning market share for the past year and will remain in place, regardless of what Dell does.

"I don't have any comments on it," Hurd said.

In response to a question from Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research, Hurd said of Dell, "They need to do what is best for their business and what is best for their customers and decide. We need to do what is best for ours and best for our customers, and that is what we're focused on, doing the best we can for HP and HP's customers. That is what we will continue to focus on."

Earlier this week, Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell said in an interview with CRN that his company for the first time would broadly engage solution providers in North America and enter the global retail market over the next several quarters. Reports of Dell's remarks sent the PC maker's stock up by $1.25 per share on Nasdaq Wednesday, as investors essentially ignored a consumer complaint lawsuit filed against Dell by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and reacted positively to Dell's new channel plans.

Hurd, whose company reported solid earnings for the second quarter, had little to say when Bill Shope, a J.P. Morgan analyst, asked for comment on Dell's plan to enter the retail space.

"We actually have a bunch of competitors that vie for that shelf space today," Hurd said. "So, obviously, they're going to make decisions that make the most sense for their company. We like our position. We like our relationship with those retailers and those channels. We think, given the situation we are in today -- which is also, by the way, a very global set of relationships [and] a pretty important asset for us -- we'll work hard to do the best we can to be the best partner to those retailers that we can be."

In a separate conference call with reporters Wednesday, Hurd said the channel would be a "key asset" in its march to the $100 billion-a-year mark in revenue. He said the reseller channel gives Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP a global reach as it works to grow its business.

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