Hewlett-Packard
Type: Public (NYSE: HPQ)Founded: Palo Alto, California (1939)
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California, USA
Key people: Bill Hewlett, Co-founder, David Packard, Co-founder
Industry: Computer Systems, Computer Peripherals, Computer software, Consulting, IT Services
Products: Calculators, Computer Monitors, Digital Cameras, Networking, Personal Computers and Laptops, Personal Digital Assistants, Printers, Scanners, Servers, Storage, Televisions
Website: www.hp.com, www.hpshopping.com, www.Compaq.com, www.voodooPC.com, www.Snapfish.com, www.lightscribe.com
General Information
The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), commonly known as HP, is the world's largest information technology corporation (by revenue) and is known worldwide for its printers, personal computers, and high-end servers. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States, it has a global presence in the fields of computing, printing, and digital imaging, and also provides software and services. The company, which once catered primarily to engineering and medical markets—a line of business it spun off as Agilent Technologies in 1999—now markets to households and small business products such as printers, cameras and ink cartridges found in grocery and department stores. HP posted US $91.7 billion in annual revenue in 2006 compared to US$91.4 billion for IBM, making it the world's largest technology vendor in terms of sales. HP is the No. 1 ranking company in worldwide personal computer shipments, surpassing rival Dell, market research firms Gartner and IDC reported in October 2006; the gap between HP and Dell widened substantially at the end of 2006, with HP taking a near 3.5% market share lead. The company released an outlook for FY07 of between $103 and $103.2 billion during its Q3 earnings results. This would make HP the world's first IT company to cross the $100 billion revenue mark.Founding
William (Bill) Hewlett and David (Dave) Packard both graduated from Stanford University in 1934. The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo Alto while they were post-grad students at Stanford during the Great Depression.The partnership was formalized on January 1, 1939 with an investment of US$538. Hewlett and Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. Packard won the coin toss but named their electronics manufacturing enterprise the 'Hewlett-Packard Company'.
HP incorporated on August 8, 1947, and went public on November 6, 1957.
Of the many projects they worked on, their first financially successful product was a precision audio oscillator, the Model 200A. Their innovation was the use of a small light bulb as a temperature dependent resistor in a critical portion of the circuit. This allowed them to sell the Model 200A for $54.40 when competitors were selling less stable oscillators for over $200. The Model 200 series of generators continued until at least 1972 as the 200AB, still tube-based but improved in design through the years. At 33 years, it was perhaps the longest-selling basic electronic design of all time.
One of the company's earliest customers was The Walt Disney Company, who bought eight Model 200B oscillators (at $71.50 each) for use in certifying the Fantasound surround sound systems installed in theaters for the movie Fantasia.