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The CEO for another HP partner, who also asked for anonymity, remained disheartened after the conference call. He said the uncertainty surrounding the PSG business is stalling sales. "They have spooked the market," said the CEO, who did not want to be identified. "This is not the channel's fault. Customers are telling us to bring them an alternative. Customers come first. We will continue to advise customers on what is in their best interest."
The CEO bemoaned all the "time and energy" being spent on the potential PSG spinoff rather than driving HP sales. "This is a major distraction," he said.
Another HP enterprise partner CEO, who also has a strong Dell relationship, said the uncertainty surrounding the HP PC business is causing "dramatic turmoil within the existing HP client base." He said Dell is going to "benefit tremendously" from the situation.
"Regardless of HP's statements, there is no certainty with regard to what is going to happen to the HP PC business," said the CEO. "If HP is really true to its PC partners and customers, they would be willing to step up and guarantee that they will be in the PC business for an extended period of time."
If there wasn't turmoil, HP would be sticking to its original statement around a potential PC exit strategy in the next 12 to 18 months."
Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Burnsville, Minn.-based system builder Nor-Tech, which did only $20,000 in HP business last quarter, said he gets the impression from the call that "there's some division within the ranks" of HP regarding a potential PC spinoff. "My impression is that the people in charge of the PC business aren’t really happy with how this has been handled up to this point," said Swank. "I wouldn’t want to have to try to explain something like this to my customers when I don’t know how the story is going to end."
NEXT: Dell Channel Chief Offers His Views
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