HP 2005 Annual Report Download - page 11

Printer Supplies. Printer supplies include LaserJet toner and inkjet cartridges and other
printing-related media. These supplies include HP-branded Vivera and ColorSphere ink and HP
Premium and Premium Plus photo papers, which are designed to work together as a system to produce
faster prints with improved resistance to fading, increased print quality and better affordability.
HP Financial Services
HPFS supports and enhances HP’s global product and service solutions, providing a broad range
of value-added financial life cycle management services. HPFS enables our worldwide customers to
acquire complete IT solutions, including hardware, software and services. The group offers leasing,
financing, utility programs and asset recovery services, as well as financial asset management services
for large global and enterprise customers. HPFS also provides an array of specialized financial services
to SMBs and educational and governmental entities. HPFS offers innovative, customized and flexible
alternatives to balance unique customer cash flow, technology obsolescence and capacity needs.
Corporate Investments
Corporate Investments is managed by the Office of Strategy and Technology and includes Hewlett-
Packard Laboratories, also known as HP Labs, and certain business incubation projects. Revenue in
this segment is attributable to the sale of certain network infrastructure products, including Ethernet
switch products that enhance computing and enterprise solutions. Corporate Investments also derives
revenue from licensing specific HP technology to third parties.
Sales, Marketing and Distribution
We manage our business and report our financial results based on the principal business segments
described above. Our customers are organized by consumer and commercial customer groups, and
distribution is organized by direct and channel. Within the channel, we have various types of partners
that we utilize for various customer groups. The partners include:
• retailers that sell our products to the public through their own physical or Internet stores;
• resellers that sell our products and services, frequently with their own value-added products or
services, to targeted customer groups;
• distribution partners that supply our solutions to smaller resellers with which we do not have
direct relationships;
• independent distributors that sell our products into geographies or customer segments in which
we have little or no presence;
• original equipment manufacturers (‘‘OEMs’’) that integrate our products with their own
hardware or software and sell the integrated products;
• independent software vendors (‘‘ISVs’’) that provide their clients with specialized software
products, frequently driving sales of additional non-HP products and services, and often assist us
in selling our products and services to clients purchasing their products; and
• systems integrators that provide various levels and kinds of expertise in designing and
implementing custom IT solutions and often partner with HPS to extend their expertise or
influence the sale of our products and services.
The mix of HP’s business by channel or direct sales differs substantially by business and region. We
believe that customer buying patterns and different regional market conditions necessitate sales,
marketing and distribution to be tailored accordingly. HP is focused on driving efficiencies and
productivity gains in both the direct and indirect business.
In May 2004, we formed a cross-segment organization called the Customer Solutions Group
(‘‘CSG’’) to manage commercial sales and marketing activities for our enterprise, SMB and public
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