At the start of this year, Radha Basu, general manager of Hewlett-Packard Co’s electronic business software organization, told our sister publication Global Technology Business that unlike rival IBM Corp, HP’s e-commerce strategy does not consist of putting an ‘e’ in front of every existing product. Oh really? Well, in his keynote at Spring Internet World recently, HP’s chief executive formally introduced the company’s Electronic World initiative, a strategy that existed only in terms of marketing, to redefine how people work and live. And, you’ve guessed it, everything started with an ‘E’. There was E-Business – HP’s software business; E-Consumer, not, as some of European readers might guess, one who takes hallucinogenic amphetamines in night clubs, but rather HP’s strong consumer presence; and E- Commerce, based on HP’s VeriFone electronic payment systems. There’s also something called Extended Enterprise which basically is telling companies they need to include the internet in their thinking. Thanks guys. Later, HP threw some soccer balls around in a press conference while trumpeting the technology it will be using at this summer’s World Cup – from defibrillators to web servers: we want to be cool and we want to be hip, gushed HP’s Katie Kennedy. Oh, please.
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