The end of an era is drawing near for tech behemoth Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and the company is laying the groundwork for its upcoming incarnation as two separate companies — one focused on enterprise technology and the other on personal computers and printers. HP on Wednesday announced the makeup of its two boards of directors, both of which will include HP’s current CEO, Meg Whitman. After the split, Whitman will be CEO of HP Enterprise and serve
Microsoft (MSFT) on Wednesday launched a campaign to win back consumers with the release of Windows 10, a PC operating system that brings back the familiar Start menu while adding a bunch of new features. Microsoft alienated many consumers with its last operating system, Windows 8, released in October 2012. Windows 8 featured a revamped user interface designed for touchscreens when few PCs had them. It was clunky to use with a keyboard and mouse nd hard to navigate because it lacked the traditional Start menu to find programs and files. As a mea culpa to consumers, Microsoft is offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade to owners of Windows 7 and 8 PCs for the next year. The software was available for download and installation starting Wednesday in 190 countries. PC makers including Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell and Acer are selling new laptop and desktop computers with Windows 10…
Worldwide personal computer shipments fell 11.8% year over year to 66.1 million units in the second quarter. But Apple (AAPL) defied the overall market trend and saw its Mac shipments rise 16.1% to 5.14 million units, research firm IDC said late Thursday. Apple was the only top 5 PC vendor to show an increase in shipments last quarter, IDC said. It ranked No. 4 behind Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell. Though they all experienced year-over-year declines in PC shipments in Q2, Lenovo, HP and Dell gained market share because their declines were less than the overall market. China-based Lenovo was tops with 20.3% market share in Q2, up from 19.4% a year earlier, IDC said. Its shipments dropped 7.5% year over year. Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP was No. 2 with an 18.5% market share, up from 18.2%. Its PC shipments fell 10.4%. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell was No. 3 with…