HP's recent decision to split into two companies is undoubtedly a big deal. It's a cornerstone of Silicon Valley, and it has been synonymous with PCs for much of its lifetime. However, this is really just the latest chapter for a technology legend that has witnessed plenty of triumphs and disasters throughout its 75-year history. We've rounded up some of its greatest and lowest moments in a gallery, ranging from its humble beginnings in a garage to the webOS era and a series of scandals -- check them out if you want to know how HP reached yet another turning point.
[Image credit: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images]
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HP's founding and early successes
You're probably aware of how HP got started: Bill Hewlett and David Packard officially set up shop in a Palo Alto, California, garage (Packard's, to be exact) on January 1st, 1939, to "make a run for it." The duo's first invention, the HP200A audio oscillator you see here, was a big hit. Thanks to the device's use of a light bulb as a resistor, it sold for $54 where existing options cost $200 or more.
HP didn't earn its Silicon Valley reputation for a while, though. For most of its first 30 years, it thrived on test instruments like oscilloscopes. It didn't get into semiconductors until three years after Fairchild did, and it wasn't until 1966 that the company put out its first honest-to-goodness computers, the business-oriented HP 1000 and 2100. Still, things were looking up for a company with such modest origins.
