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EA's FIFA 20 tournament pits real footballers against each other
EA Sports has launched a FIFA 20 esports soccer tournament to raise cash for coronavirus charities, featuring some of the biggest teams and players in Europe. The Stay and Play Cup will be streamed on EA’s Twitch channel and match up teams like Dortmund, Real Madrid, Paris St. Germaine and Manchester City.
Xbox France goes soccer crazy with Paris Saint-Germain Xbox One bundle
Microsoft is looking to tempt French soccer fans to the Xbox One with a new bleu bundle tied to the country's leading team, Paris Saint-Germain. The package includes the system, a subscription to the club's TV channel, a special jersey, and some unique stickers to adorn your Xbox One with so your gaming pals can know exactly who you support - if they hadn't worked it out from the jersey. French retailer Micromania says the bundle launches on May 7 for 580 euros, compared to the regular 500 euros the system costs in the country. For reference, our French friends are paying what converts to around $690 for their Xbox One systems, and that goes up to $800 for the PSG bundle. Sacre bleu! Also, if you're a PSG fan who prefers your hardware flatter, Microsoft's France has a themed Surface bundle that's launching in May, too. The hardware packages are part of a sponsorship deal that Microsoft and PSG forged in November 2013, and Microsoft's already been taking advantage of its tie to one of Europe's most prominent sporting names. The company made superstar forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic a Xbox ambassador last year, a role he's taken to with his famed panache and narcissistic pomp. Earlier this year, the Swede gifted each of his teammates a custom "Zlatan Limited Edition" Xbox One bearing their squad numbers, names, and of course his own signature. [Image: Microsoft]
HP creates Mobility division to focus on consumer tablets, taps ex-MeeGo maven Alberto Torres to run it
Despite the culling of Palm's offerings from its product portfolio, HP isn't exiting the tablet space. Far from it. Evidence of a new tablet has been floating around since April, and we've even caught a couple glimpses of the so-called Slate 8. Now, The Verge reports that the company has created a Mobility unit within the Personal Systems Group dedicated to making such consumer hardware. According to a leaked internal memo, it looks like Alberto Torres, formerly chief of MeeGo ops at Nokia, will be the man in charge of the new division. The Mobility group will first focus on tablets, with a "soon-to-be-launched" initial offering, but it plans to expand into other product segments moving forward. The full leaked memo can be found at the source below.
Meg Whitman: HP's engineering is very much still alive, aims to be cloud computing leader
HP sure knows how to wrap up a party -- by letting its CEO make a surprise appearance right at the end of the show. Joining Todd Bradley on the stage, Meg Whitman reassured the audience with her company's "commitment to fantastic products," and that "engineering is very much still alive from HP." In regards to the recent merger of HP's Imaging and Printing Group with Personal Systems Group (which changed this week's show entirely), Meg -- who's a big believer in focus -- is confident that Todd's new team will deliver a united brand and a unified design language, thus making the PC business stronger with the best customer experience and customer support. Additionally, Meg seems to be getting along just fine with the board, saying that they are deeply engaged to plot a brighter future for HP. Under Meg's supervision, HP is doubling down on R&D and incubation, as well as aiming to be a leader in cloud computing (she claims that HP is already the largest provider of private cloud services) and security by bringing a full host of benefits that the competitors lack. When asked about HP's mobile and tablet strategy, Todd skirted around by emphasizing the happy partnership between HP and Microsoft on tablets, but he also said that markets evolve and change all the time, and that his company's well aware of the differences between the needs of enterprises or small businesses and the needs of consumers. So in other words, stay tuned.
HP's imaging / printing group combines with PC group, Printing and Personal Systems Group emerges
Rumor had it, and rumor was right. This morning, HP officially announced an organizational realignment that's set to "improve performance and drive profitable growth across the entire HP portfolio." Corporate speak, sure, but what's happening is that the Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) and Personal Systems Group (PSG) are joining forces to create the Printing and Personal Systems Group. The newly merged entity will be headed up by one Todd Bradley, who has served as the executive VP of PSG since '05. Vyomesh Joshi, executive VP of IPG, seems to be getting the better end of the deal, cashing in his "retirement" card after 31 years at the company. In related news, HP's Global Accounts Sales organization will join the newly named HP Enterprise Group, and it will "unify its Marketing functions across business units under Marty Homlish, executive vice president and chief marketing officer." Lastly, the company is sliding its Global Real Estate function from Finance into Global Technology and Business Processes, which is bound to befuddle precisely no one. For the full chair rearrangement, head on past the break.
AllThingsD: HP to fold Imaging and Printing division into Personal Systems Group
HP might have at one point considered ridding itself of its high revenue but low earnings computing division, but AllThingsD has it on good authority that its profitable printing group will now be folded into it. Under the guise of consolidation, the union of both should streamline operations, as both currently expend sizable efforts targeting the same business and home consumers alike. It'll also mean the current Imaging and Printing Group head-honcho, Vyomesh Joshi, is on the outs with the absorbed unit reporting to existing Personal Systems Group head, Todd Bradley. Enough about the kerfuffle, ultimately the shakeup means we're one step closer to owning the webOS printer of our dreams, right?
HP reports Q1 2012 financials: $30 billion net revenue, $1.5 billion net earnings, big drop in PC sales
HP reported results for its first fiscal quarter of 2012 this afternoon, including $30 billion in net revenue (down seven percent from the previous year), and net earnings of $1.5 billion (down a full 44 percent). Partly contributing to that drop is a slump from its Personal Systems Group, which saw revenue slip 15 percent year-over-year, and total desktop and notebook units decline a rather drastic 19 and 18 percent, respectively. The company's Imaging and Printing Group also saw a seven percent decline in revenue, with the total number of printer units slipping 15 percent. HP's services business managed to eke out a one percent growth with revenue of $8.6 billion, though, while its software business saw the biggest growth in any one area at 30 percent (that includes results from the recently-acquired Autonomy). The company's full rundown can be found in the press release after the break, with additional numbers available at the source link below.Update: On the company's earnings call, CEO Meg Whitman laid some of the blame for PSG's decline on hard drive shortages, but also said that HP has "under-invested in innovation for the last several years" and "been late to market too often," adding that "we have to lead again." A transcript of Whitman's prepared remarks can be found here.
webOS global business unit split outlined in leaked HP documents
It's been just over two weeks since HP announced plans to discontinue production of its webOS devices, and speculation over the future of the platform is still going strong. Just this week, Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung put to rest rumors of a webOS deal, and now two leaked missives from inside HP show plans to split the webOS global business unit in two. According to letters apparently from Todd Bradley and Shane Robison, webOS software will find a new home in the outfit's Office of Strategy and Technology, while the hardware division will remain with the Personal Systems Group. One of these letters from Tom Bradley explains the split: The pan-HP charter of OS&T provides a broad view of how we can optimize our technologies. In fact, it has proven to be a successful incubator of technologies; it is home to a team of senior technology experts devoted exclusively to exploring longer-term strategies for our technologies.The second missive, from Shane Robison, goes on to say that "webOS software is still a great asset." None of this should come as a surprise, as our interview with Stephen DeWitt reiterated the company's dedication to the webOS platform, while HP's recent ads hocking PSG show the outfit's intentions to spin-off its PC business. Now the question is, who has the bones to make it happen? For the full-length leaks hit the source link below.
HP promotes '$40 billion' PC business spin-off with new series of ads
Before today, HP had only expressed that it "will consider a broad range of options" for the future of its Personal Systems Group; and now, said company's released a series of ads to confirm its intention to spin it off into a separate company. Amidst the lovely (and ironic) mention of HP's long-lived success with its $40 billion PC business, the underlying message here is all about "staying focused on our customer needs" and to "better anticipate change" -- much like being a start-up all over again, as suggested by Executive Vice President Todd Bradley on HP's website. Of course, the customer in question here is likely from the enterprise sector, as we've all learned from CEO Leo Apotheker's interview at D9, the death of HP's webOS devices, and the pending acquisition of Autonomy. Still, we've yet to hear more concrete plans or even figure out who the potential buyers might be (if any), but for now, you can take a gander at HP's "sample ad" after the break.
All Things D: HP kept executives in the dark about webOS decision
If you thought the saga surrounding HP's decision to cease production of webOS devices was over, you may be mistaken. All Things D reported yesterday that key executives -- specifically Todd Bradley of the currently-in-limbo Personal Systems Group and former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein -- weren't informed of the move until Sunday night. The blog's inside sources say the two plan to remain at their posts for the time being, however, that could change dependent on what happens next with webOS. Those sources also noted that Rubinstein wasn't exactly thrilled about the timing of the TouchPad's release, saying CEO Leo Apotheker had failed to make good on a public promise to ship the tablet only when it was "perfect." So will they stay or will they go? It's anyone's guess at this point, but you can bet we'll keep you posted.
Healthcare-friendly Bluetooth revision is four times faster, still seems slow
Bluetooth may be good for rocking tunes or dropping calls, but transmitting high-res medical imagery seems like something of a stretch. Nevertheless, that's what a team at the PSG College of Technology Peelamedu in India has worked up, dubbed PACS: Picture Archiving and Communication Systems. It's built on Bluetooth spec and so offers similar range and reliability of transmission, but at higher speeds. Only anecdotal bandwidth levels have been provided thus far, indicating a 1.5MB image can be transmitted in 120 seconds compared to the 400 standard Bluetooth would require; a nice boost for sure, but two minutes per picture still seems awfully slow when a good 'ol 802.11a WiFi could beam it in seconds -- and at greater range. Update: As many commenters have pointed out, PACS is an existing infrastructure for storing and sharing medical imagery. This is an extension of that system to allow Bluetoothy communication.
