HP: We Didn't Follow Dell, We're Not Following Apple

Hewlett-Packard HPQ is going through a lot of changes as it searches for its new CEO and digests Palm's Web OS, but don't expect it to follow Apple's AAPL lead, CNET reports. "Emulating Apple is not part of our strategy," said HP's Todd Bradley, executive vice president in charge of the company's consumer products division. It's different for HP, according to Bradley, given its need to satisfy a broader range of enterprise customers who have different needs and may require more custom products. Bradley points out that five years ago people were calling for HP to emulate Dell's DELL low-cost hardware strategy, but HP focused more on differentiating itself from Dell through product quality and design, eroding its rival's lead in the PC market. In the meantime, HP is devoting resources toward improving the availability of its WebOS applications and software-development kits. Since the acquisition, HP has increased the number of available WebOS applications by 50 percent, Bradley says.