Image by jdlasica via Flickr
Yesterday, many were surprised when HP appointed former SAP chief Leo Apotheker as CEO of the company, but at least it got HP back in the news for something other than Mark Hurd's transgressions or his move to Oracle.
Mark Hurd left HP in August under a cloud of suspicion and lots of animosity on both sides. When he later landed at Oracle, it only served to antagonize the HP board even more, but have you noticed it's gotten pretty quiet since he left. Other than the ridiculously expensive purchase of 3PAR, we had not been hearing much from HP, which got me thinking that maybe a these large tech companies need a very public face to keep people talking.I never liked Hurd, but if you think about it, what CEO do you admire? Jobs? He's a control freak. Ballmer? He's a buffoon. Zuckerberg? He's a smarmy geek who got lucky. Schmidt? Arrogant comes to mind.
What these chief executives have in common is that they are the very public faces of their very large, and for the most part, very successful companies. They are technology rock stars. People want to know what they're thinking and when they open their mouths, we like to write and discuss every juicy tidbit.When I was at the Web 2.0 Expo this week, I spoke to some folks from the Palm division and they were excited about the upcoming tablets running WebOS, which are due for release in the first quarter of next year. They also loved their phones, and they assured me HP would continue to sell the Palm cell offerings like the Pre.
Yet when I thought about it, I realized I hadn't heard much about this since Hurd left the building and maybe, just maybe, larger than life CEOs are just what these companies need to keep people talking about them. Apotheker's controversial appointment has already served its purpose in that regard.
Comments