5 Vendors Who Dropped The Ball This Week

1. HP Jettisons Windows 7 Slate Device

Although it hasn't been confirmed, HP is reportedly dropping the Windows 7 powered "Slate" tablet device that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off at this year's CES, and which was supposed to arrive this summer. "These devices are perfect for reading, surfing the Web and taking entertainment on the go," Ballmer said at CES.



According to Techcrunch, HP isn't happy with Windows 7's performance on tablets and may be planning to leverage its newly acquired webOS in a slate device of its own. In early April, HP released a promotional video highlighting the slate's advantages over the Apple iPad. Now it looks like the iPad will have at least several more months on the market all by its lonesome, giving Apple a chance to etch the viability of the tablet form factor in granite.

2. Cisco Pretends HP Doesn't Exist

Yes, we gave Cisco props for taking the high road in the HP row and focusing on its own strengths. But there's another way to look at this: In conspicuously dodging the HP issue, some VARs says Cisco is now sending a confusing message to channel partners.



"They misplayed their hand on this one," one Cisco VAR told Channelweb.com this week. "They can't just spend an entire Partner Summit calling out HP and then the next year pretend like it's not really an issue. If we're expecting fiery sermons, it's because we were conditioned to expect that last year."



If Cisco downplayed the HP situation in order to focus on the ominous supply chain issues it's having, that would have been understandable, but some VARs believe Cisco didn't do enough in this regard.

3. McAfee's Quarterly Profit Drops 30 Percent

This problem obviously isn't confined to this week, but McAfee's Q1 profit dropped 30 percent due to currency volatility and its inability to close several key deals during the quarter. When it rains, it pours, and McAfee also said its recent botched antivirus update will negatively impact future earnings by at least $.01 to $.02 cents per share due to costly remediation efforts.



"We've got to do a better job at execution. We are disappointed with the quarter," McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt said ruefully during the earnings call.

4. Motorola Drops Out Of Top 5 Handset Makers

Research In Motion (RIM) ousted Motorola from the top five in IDC's rankings for the first time this week, selling more than 2 million more devices that Motorola and further cementing the superiority of converged mobile devices. IDC says it's the first time a handset maker has dropped out of the top five since 2005 when Sony Ericsson edged BenQ Siemens for the fifth spot.



Motorola did recently report better than expected smartphone sales, and it's tied its smartphone plans to Google's Android OS, but it's going to need more than that to stop the bleeding.

5. Apple Shows Its Scary Face

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the same disdain for Adobe Flash as HP and Cisco do for each other. Jobs laid it all on the table this week by outlining exactly why Apple doesn't want Flash on the iPhone, further driving a rift between two companies whose fortunes have been linked to each other's businesses for years.



Apple's heavy-handed response to the lost/stolen iPhone 4G prototype is also attracting criticism, particularly from those who feel that police serving a warrant on a Friday night, bashing down a journalist's door and confiscating his PCs qualifies as heavy handed. Some pundits believe Apple is trying to send a message to journalists and others who might see its fortress-like secrecy as an intriguing challenge. Message sent.