HP creates Mobility division, will use it to focus on mobile tech
This is some interesting (and possibly exciting) news for your Friday: HP has just created a new Mobile division that will focus on “consumer tablets” and other categories that the company feels it “can offer differentiated value to [its] customers.” To lead this newly-minted division, HP hired none other than Alberto Torres – a name you should remember, if you’ve ever heard of MeeGo. Torres was Nokia’s MeeGo boss before the platform was effectively killed by the Finnish company.
The Verge was given an internal memo that was circulated by Todd Bradley, the man who leads HP’s Printing and Personal Systems Group. Bradley is the one behind the creation of this new Mobile division, though he is giving all power over this group to Torres on September 3, Torres’ first day on the job.
The memo is pasted in its entirety below. Unfortunately, Bradley doesn’t give any allusions to what will be coming out of this group; all that’s mentioned is that Torres’ “first order of business will be to accelerate [HP’s] tablet strategy.” Any mentions of smartphones – or, more importantly, webOS – are nonexistent. Of course, the “other categories” that HP may focus on in the future could cover smartphones, so we’ll just have to wait and see what HP announces over the following months.
[The Verge]As the world’s largest PC and printing business, we make it matter for hundreds of millions of people each and every day. Today we are taking an important step to serve even more customers in new and exciting ways.
I am pleased to announce that we are creating a team dedicated to delivering the best mobility solutions in the industry. With this move, we are building on our commitment to re-invest in mobility via dedicated leadership, focused research and development, amazing new products and a growing suite of applications and services.
Our new Mobility Global Business Unit initially will focus on consumer tablets and will expand to additional segments and categories where we believe we can offer differentiated value to our customers. Our existing notebook teams, including our soon-to-be launched commercial tablet, will remain within the PC GBU under James Mouton at this time.
To lead the Mobility GBU, I am thrilled to announce that we have recruited a proven executive from the mobile-device industry. Alberto Torres, who most recently oversaw the MeeGo products and platform at Nokia as Executive Vice President, will join HP as Senior Vice President of Mobility, reporting to me.
I am excited to have Alberto join us. During his seven years at Nokia, he held a variety of critical leadership positions, including two years on the company’s Executive Board. In earlier roles at Nokia, Alberto ran the company’s premium brand, its accessory and CDMA businesses and corporate strategy. Prior to Nokia, he was a partner at McKinsey and Company, where he worked with industry leaders in mobile devices, consumer technologies, software and Internet services. A Ph.D in computer science from Stanford University, Alberto currently holds vice chairman roles with the firms Bang & Olufsen and Opera Software.
Alberto’s first order of business will be to accelerate our tablet strategy and begin to execute products against our consumer/SMB target. The exact structure of his team will follow that strategy.Alberto’s start date will be September 3. Please join me in welcoming Alberto to HP and in supporting him and his team in their important work.
Regards,
Todd
