Hewlett-Packard Creates Wireless Unit, Hires Morris
--From AOL. -- Cooters
Palo Alto, California, Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co., the second-largest computer maker, said it created a new unit to focus on wireless and Internet services and tapped an executive from No. 2 cellular-phone maker Motorola Inc. to lead the group.
The Palo Alto, California-based company named Iain Morris, 44, as president of its Embedded and Personal Systems unit. Morris spent 23 years at Motorola, where he recently led the company's cellular, advanced messaging and paging businesses in the U.S. and Canada.
Hewlett-Packard's new unit will include calculators, handheld computers, wireless and Internet services, personal storage appliances such as compact-disc recorders, and so-called embedded software. The company is pushing its software to run more devices outside computers, such as wireless phones and smart appliances.
``Devices in general are growing at an important rate,'' said Arthur Russell, an analyst with Edward D Jones & Co., who rates the stock a ``buy.'' ``Everybody's participating in that space.''
At Hewlett-Packard, Morris will oversee 400 employees and the unit will be based in Palo Alto.
``H-P won't be making phones,'' Morris said. ``We'll be making other equipment to provide data on cellular phones, things that people use when they're mobile.''
Hewlett-Packard shares fell 49 cents to $30.01. The stock has declined 4.9 percent this year.
Feb/21/2001 16:38 ET |
