Wednesday, March 30, 2005

HP Claims Cartridge Re-fillers are Patent Infringers. HP Accuses Firms that Sell Refilled Ink Cartridges of Patent Infingement

11:05 pm | Anton Shilov

HP, who has a substantial amount of profits coming from printer suppliers, has accused two companies that sell refilled ink cartridges of patent infringement. The company, however, did not denote its intention to block the refill business altogether.

“On Friday, HP sued InkCycle in U.S. District Court for the western district of Wisconsin, alleging that the company's ink violates three HP patents. And on Monday, HP sued RhinoTek in U.S. District Court for the northern district of California, accusing RhinoTek of false advertising by using packaging that indicates its refilled HP printer cartridges are new,” CNET News.com reports.

Analysts believe that refilled cartridges account for 10% - 15% of the market.

“We still believe it's the customer's choice,” said HP spokeswoman Monica Sarkar, adding that HP believes its products have better quality and reliability.

• CNET News.com: HP Sues Firms that Refill Ink Cartridges.

Blu-Ray or HD DVD? The Rumble Ahead. High Definition Content Standards Clash Slowdowns Progress

4:12 pm | Anton Shilov

Thanks to emergence of HDTV and appropriate content, nowadays typical DVD discs are not enough to store a long movie along with extra features consumers need. High definition DVDs, such as HD DVD or Blu-ray discs, can both definitely solve the problem well. Even the HD DVD with significantly lower capacity than Blu-ray discs will be enough for a long time. But here comes the war of formats: the Blu-ray seems to be more future proof, but HD DVD would be backwards compatible with DVDs and offer better pricing.

“Blu-Ray and HD-DVD both use blue lasers, which operate at lower wavelengths (405 nanometers) than current red lasers (650 nanometers). That microscopic difference goes a long way. Longer wavelengths suffer more diffraction, which limits their ability to focus tightly on a surface. But a blue laser's shorter wavelength allows it to read and write data over a much tighter surface area, which in turn allows storage of far more data on a disc that's roughly the same diameter of current DVDs. The benefits for backward compatibility are clear: New players will be able to handle both old and new DVD formats in the same machine (outfitted with both red- and blue-laser diodes) – a major consumer benefit that manufacturers hope will drive unit sales,” an article over eCoustics.com explains.

“The HD-DVD format could become far more widely available to consumers sooner and at a lower price (at least initially) than Blu-Ray discs. That's because the HD-DVD format utilizes manufacturing techniques very similar to those used for the current generation of DVDs. Translation: Third-party duplication houses won't have to retool their factories significantly to make HD-DVDs a reality. That means that HD-DVD discs likely will be the first to market by at least several months, probably by the end of 2005,” the web-site claims.

“On the other hand, Blu-Ray discs require an entirely new manufacturing process with transition costs borne largely by duplicators (unless Blu-Ray backers devise a subsidy system. That, along with other issues, is expected to delay the introduction of Blu-Ray discs until sometime in 2006, which could hand a major advantage to the HD-DVD format,” clarifies eCoustics.com.

• eCoustics.com: The Showdown: Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD.

HP Appoints New CEO, Expects Turnaround. NCR’s Mark Hurd Appointed as CEO of HP

7:42 am | Anton Shilov

HP announced that its Board of Directors has named Mark Hurd to serve as the company’s chief executive officer and president.

Mark Hurd will take up his new duties on April 1^st and join HP’s Board. He succeeds Robert Wayman, a 36-year company veteran who has been chief financial officer since 1984 and was named interim chief executive officer in February 2005. Wayman, age 59, will remain CFO and continue to serve as a member of HP’s board.

Hurd, 48, has served since March 2003 as president and chief executive officer of NCR Corp., where his 25-year career has been spent in a range of general management, operations and sales and marketing positions. Prior to his current responsibilities, he was NCR’s president and chief operating officer, responsible for driving the performance of its five business units. Previously, Hurd served three years as president and chief operating officer of the company’s Teradata division, which he built to be a global leader in enterprise data warehousing, analytic applications and data warehousing services.

When Hurd was named CEO in February 2003, NCR's revenues were declining and its stock price was languishing. Since then, the company's fortunes have reversed. Dayton, Ohio-based NCR in January posted fourth-quarter net income that rose 55 percent and sales that rose 9 percent to $1.79 billion, according to Reuters.

“While this is a huge stretch for Mark (in terms of the scale and size of HP), he is a very capable executive who did a great job with Teradata, part of NCR,” said Bruce Richardson, senior vice president of AMR Research in an interview with Reuters. “(It's) a surprise pick, but one with high potential.”

Hurd said, “HP is one of the world’s great companies, with a proud history of innovation, outstanding talent and enviable positions in many of its product lines and services. It’s a great honor to join its leadership team and have the opportunity to build on its success.” 

• HP Press Release: HP names Mark Hurd Chief Executive Officer and President.
• Reuters: Hewlett-Packard Picks NCR’s Hurd as CEO.
• BusinessWeek: HP Board Picks Less Flamboyant CEO.
• CBS MarketWatch: HP Looks for Steadiness with Hurd.
• ZDNet UK: HP’s New CEO Gets $5m for Signing Up.
• Techworld: HP Names New Head.
• CNET News.com: At HP New Chief, New Era?

Archive
All Latest News