Company history

Founding

William (Bill) Hewlett and David (Dave) Packard both graduated in electrical
engineering from Stanford University in 1935. The company originated in a garage in nearby
Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford
during the Great Depression. Terman was considered a mentor to them in forming Hewlett-
Packard. In 1939, Packard and Hewlett established Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Packard's garage
with an initial capital investment of US$538. Hewlett and Packard tossed a coin to decide
whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
Packard won the coin toss but named their electronics manufacturing enterprise the "Hewlett-
Packard Company". HP incorporated on August 18, 1947, and went public on November 6,
1957.
Of the many projects they worked on, their very first financially successful product was a
precision audio oscillator, the Model HP200A. Their innovation was the use of a small light bulb
as a temperature dependent resistor in a critical portion of the circuit. This allowed them to sell
the Model 200A for $54.40 when competitors were selling less stable oscillators for over $200.
The Model 200 series of generators continued until at least 1972 as the 200AB, still tube-based
but improved in design through the years. At 33 years, it was perhaps the longest-selling basic
electronic design of all time.
One of the company's earliest customers was The Walt Disney Company, which bought
eight Model 200B oscillators (at $71.50 each) for use in certifying the Fantasound surround
sound systems installed in theaters for the movie Fantasia.

Important Events
 1939: William Hewlett and David Packard enter into a partnership; Hewlett-Packard
(HP) is born.
 1940: HP operations begin in Palo Alto, California.
 1947: HP is incorporated.
 1951: HP introduces the HP524A high-speed counter.
 1957: HP shares are offered to the public.
 1958: HP acquires F.L. Moseley Company, manufacturer of graphic recorders.
 1959: HP establishes a marketing office in Geneva and a manufacturing facility in
Boeblingen, West Germany.
 1960: HP opens factory in Loveland, Colorado.
 1961: HP purchases the Sanborn Company, a medical instruments manufacturer and is
listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
 1966: HP develops its first computer.
 1969: David Packard is appointed deputy secretary of defense under U.S. President
Nixon.
 1972: HP introduces a handheld scientific calculator, the HP-35; HP introduces the
HP3000 microcomputer.
 1977: Bill Hewlett relinquishes his role as president of HP to John Young.
 1980: HP introduces its first personal computer, the HP-85.
 1982: Compaq Computer Corporation is founded.
 1983: Compaq initial public offering raises $67 million; securities are traded on
NASDAQ.
 1984: HP's LaserJet printer makes its debut; Compaq computers are introduced in
Europe; Compaq introduces the first Compaq desktop, the Compaq Deskpro.
 1985: Compaq securities begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
 1986: Compaq ships its 500,000th personal computer and completes construction of
Compaq Main Campus in Houston.
 1987: Compaq manufactures its one-millionth personal computer and opens
manufacturing facility in Scotland.
 1988: HP's stock begins trading on the Tokyo stock exchange.
 1989: HP purchases Apollo Computer; Compaq purchases Wang facility in Sterling,
Scotland; Compaq introduces Compaq Systempro and the first Compaq notebook PC, the
Compaq LTE.
 1990: Compaq establishes East European sales organization and opens office in Berlin.
 1991: HP introduces the 95LX palmtop personal computer; Eckhard Pfeiffer is named
CEO of Compaq; Compaq announces its first billion-dollar quarter; Compaq enters the
Japanese marketplace and introduces its first modular PC, the Compaq Deskpro/M
family.
 1992: Lewis E. Platt replaces Young as head of HP; Compaq introduces its first printer
product, the Compaq Pagemarq; Compaq computer training center is established in
China.
 1993: Packard retires and Platt is named chairman, president and CEO of HP; Compaq
introduces Compaq DirectPlus and delivers first Pentium processor-based products;
Compaq's PC Division is split into Desktop and Notebook PC divisions; Presario family
is launched; Compaq's printer business is discontinued.
 1994: Compaq surpasses IBM as the number one seller of PCs worldwide; Compaq
introduces first sub-notebook, Compaq Aero; Compaq opens a manufacturing facility in
Brazil.
 1995: HP launches the Pavilion line of home computers. Compaq is awarded Europe's
largest-ever PC contract with British Telecom; HP opens manufacturing facility in China;
HP acquires Thomas-Conrad and Net Worth.
 1996: HP co-founder, David Packard dies on March 26, 1996; Compaq introduces its
handheld PC, the PC companion, and its Armada family of value-priced, flexible
notebooks.
 1997: HP acquires Verifone, Inc., maker of in-store terminals for verifying credit card
transactions; Compaq announces the new Presario 2000 series and introduces the TFT
500, flat-panel monitor; Compaq acquires Microcom and Tandem Computer Inc.
 1998: Forbes magazine names Compaq its 1997 Company of the Year; the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency names Compaq the "Green Lights Corporate Partner of
the Year"; Compaq is also awarded Novell's Service Excellence Award; Compaq
acquires Digital Equipment Corporation.
 1999: HP president Platt retires and Lucent-executive Carly Fiorina is appointed
president and CEO.
 2000: Compaq acquires assets of Inacom and creates Custom Edge, Inc.; Compaq
announces 10-year corporate alliance with The Walt Disney Company; Compaq unveils
iPAQ Pocket PC.
 2001: HP co-founder Bill Hewlett dies on January 12, 2001; HP acquires application
server specialist Bluestone Software; Compaq creates the AltaVista Company and
acquires Shopping.com; Michael D. Capellas is appointed president and chief executive
officer of Compaq; Compaq and Yahoo! announce a comprehensive global technology
and marketing alliance; Compaq unveils "Evo" notebooks and workstations; Hewlett-
Packard and Compaq announce their planned merger.
 2002: HP and Compaq merge on May 3, 2002; HPQ is unveiled as new stock ticker for
combined company
 On October 8, 2006 Reuters ran a story describing pretesting used by Hewlett-Packard
and other companies.
 On October 12, 2006 hp announced the appointment of Jon Hoak as vice president and
chief ethics and compliance officer. Hoak served as senior vice president and general
counsel for NCR from 1993 until May 2006.
 On December 7, 2006 hp paid $14.5 Million to settle civil charges brought by the
California Attorney General.
 In July 2007, the company announced that it had met its target, set in 2004, to recycle 1
billion pounds of electronics, toner and ink cartridges. It has set a new goal of recycling a
further 2 billion pounds of hardware by the end of 2010. In 2006, the company recovered
187 million pounds of electronics, 73 percent more than its closest competitor.

Management

Co-founder: David Packard (President: 1947; Chairman: 1964–1969; Chairman 1971–

1993)
Co-founder: William Hewlett (Vice President: 1947; Executive Vice President: 1957;
President: 1964; CEO: 1969; Chairman of the Executive Committee 1978; Vice
Chairman 1983–1987)
Chairman of the Board, CEO, and President: Mark Hurd (March 29, 2005–current,
appointed Chairman September 22, 2006)
CEO: John A. Young (1978–October 31, 1992)
CEO: Lewis Platt (November 1, 1992–July 18, 1999; Chairman 1993–July 18, 1999)
Chairman: Richard Hackborn (January, 2000–September 22, 2000; Lead Independent
Director September 22, 2006–)
CEO: Carly Fiorina (July 19, 1999–February 9, 2005; Chairwoman September 22, 2000–
February 9, 2005)
Interim CEO: Robert Wayman (February 9, 2005–March 28, 2005)
Chairwoman: Patricia C. Dunn (February 9, 2005–September 22, 2006).
CEO: Mark Hurd (CEO: April 1, 2005–; Chairman: September 22, 2006–)

Unique selling point

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2. Prices may drop further once Dell’s India plant in Chennai becomes operational
3. Configure and customize as you wish
4. Only vendor who gives original OS media (With others you need to create recovery discs)
5. Only Vendor from whom you can ask Windows XP instead of Vista (Not available in Dell
website, you need to ask for this manually later with Dell Representative.)
6. Available in Multiple colours (Inspiron and XPS series)
7. Blue Ray writer available optionally (Rs 28k extra!!!)
8. Prices can be negotiated. Some recent Dell Models are quite feature rich- travel
Remote, 2MP camera, detachable DVD drives etc
9. Dell Latitude now comes with 19 hours (claimed) battery life,