HP 2012 Annual Report Download - page 19

Computer Inc., Apple Inc. and Toshiba Corporation. In particular regions, we also experience
competition from local companies and from generically-branded or ‘‘white box’’ manufacturers. Our
competitive advantages include our broad product portfolio, our innovation and research and
development capabilities, our brand and procurement leverage, our ability to cross-sell our portfolio of
offerings, our extensive service and support offerings and the availability of our broad-based
distribution of products from retail and commercial channels to direct sales.
Printing. The markets for printer hardware and associated supplies are highly competitive.
Printing’s key customer segments each face competitive pressure from the market, specific to pricing
and the introduction of new products. Key competitors include Canon U.S.A., Inc., Lexmark
International, Inc., Xerox Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and
Brother Industries, Ltd. In addition, independent suppliers offer refill and remanufactured alternatives
for HP original inkjet and toner supplies, which are often available for lower prices and generally offer
lower print quality and reliability. Other companies also have developed and marketed new compatible
cartridges for HP’s laser and inkjet products, particularly outside of the United States where
intellectual property protection is inadequate or ineffective. Printing is focused on growth through
innovation and growing high-usage unit share by expanding color printing in the office, growing
long-term high-value recurring business, accelerating the transition from analog to digital printing in
graphics, commercial and production environments, driving web and mobile content solutions through
our installed base of web-connected ePrinters and growing cloud-based, document centric commercial
solutions and services. Our competitive advantages include our comprehensive solutions for the home,
the office and the publishing environments, our innovation and research and development capabilities,
our brand and the availability of our broad-based distribution of products from retail and commercial
channels to direct sales.
Services. Our services businesses, including HP Enterprise Services and Technology Services,
compete in IT support services, consulting and integration, infrastructure technology outsourcing,
business process outsourcing and application services. The IT support services and consulting and
integration markets have been under significant pressure as our customers have reduced their IT
budgets. However, this trend has benefited the outsourcing services business as customers drive toward
lower IT management costs to enable more strategic investments. Our competitors include IBM Global
Services, Computer Sciences Corporation, systems integration firms such as Accenture Ltd. and
offshore companies such as Fujitsu Limited and India-based competitors Wipro Limited, Infosys
Limited and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. We also compete with other traditional hardware providers,
such as Dell Inc., which are increasingly offering services to support their products. Many of our
competitors are able to offer a wide range of global services, and some of our competitors enjoy
significant brand recognition. Our services businesses team with many companies to offer services, and
those arrangements allow us to extend our reach and augment our capabilities. Our competitive
advantages include our deep technology expertise, such as multi-vendor environments, virtualization
and automation, our strong track record of collaboration with clients and partners, and the combination
of our expertise in infrastructure management with skilled global resources on platforms from SAP,
Oracle and Microsoft, among others.
Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking. The areas in which ESSN operates are intensely
competitive and are characterized by rapid and ongoing technological innovation and price competition.
Our competitors range from broad solution providers such as International Business Machines
Corporation (‘‘IBM’’) to more focused competitors such as EMC Corporation and NetApp, Inc. in
storage, Cisco Systems, Inc. and Juniper Networks, Inc. in networking, and Dell Inc. in industry
standard servers. We believe that our important competitive advantages in this segment include the six
technology components of our converged infrastructure initiatives: IT systems, power and cooling,
security, management, virtualization and automation. We believe that our competitive advantages also
11