Hewlett-Packard plans to increase its focus on software, new chief executive Leo Apotheker said, as the US computer giant posted fourth quarter results that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
The Palo Alto, California-based HP, the world’s largest computer maker, said net profit rose five percent in the fourth quarter of its financial year.
“HP proved once again that it is able to execute given its market strengths and technology leadership,” said Mr Apotheker, who took over as HP’s president and chief executive on November 1 after Mark Hurd’s abrupt resignation.
Mr Apotheker, the former chief executive of German business software giant SAP, said in a conference call with reporters that he planned to increase emphasis on software.
“We all feel we need to have a strong and viable software business,” he said. “It is true that today software represents roughly three percent of our revenue but I think we can do a lot better.
“Doubling it wouldn’t be too bad, tripling it would be even better but that would be a very, very, very long term projection,” he said.
“With software we can add a lot of value in our strengths to whatever we do for our customers. That doesn’t mean we would be in any type of software business,” he said. “We have focus in our software strategy.”
In the conference call with reporters, Mr Apotheker referred only briefly to the case filed against SAP by rival Oracle in a California court.
“Given the strength and momentum of our business and our strong competitive position in the industry a competitor has tried to distract us – and you – from the good work being done across HP’s business,” he said.
Oracle had been seeking to have Mr Apotheker testify in the case, in which Oracle has accused an SAP subsidiary of stealing Oracle software, but was reportedly unable to serve him with a subpoena.
Mr Apotheker said he had been travelling constantly since taking up his new position at HP, meeting with company employees and partners.
“I’ve been from California to Massachusetts to Germany to Singapore with many stops in between,” he said.
Asked by a reporter where he was right now, Mr Apotheker replied: “That’s a bit of an odd question. I’m on a media call focused on our fourth quarter in Palo Alto at HP’s headquarters together with a bunch of people.
“Would you like a picture?” he asked.