The Financial Times have a great quote from HP Chairman, Ray Lane, on the reason for HP cancelling the HP mobile devices, and in particular the Touchpad:

Mr Lane said “only one company has been successful in integrating hardware and software, and that’s a very special case because of one man”, referring to Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.

This sounds a very reasonable view by Mr Lane, but if the quote is accurate and complete, it’s complete nonsense – the list of companies that successfully integrate hardware and software is long and well known, both in the consumer market and in the enterprise.

In the consumer device world, integrated software and hardware is the norm – look at Sony with the Playstation, Microsoft with the XBox, Nokia in mobile phones (until recently they were totally dominant building phones with their own hardware and software) or pretty much any Blu-Ray player you buy. These are all devices running a heavily integrated package of software and hardware, and you wouldn’t think of it any other way.

In the enterprise market, you only need to look at IBM’s mainframe division for the benefits that a heavily integrated hardware and software design can bring – it’s both hugely profitable for IBM, and beneficial for their customers. It’s been so successful a strategy that Oracle, where Mr Lane previously worked, bought Sun Microsystems, to build an integrated hardware and software business around Oracle’s business applications. Oracle have already reported significantly improved profits on the back of this.

So when HP next run out the line that only Apple can successfully integrate hardware and software, I hope you remember that what they’re really saying is not that only Apple can do it, but that HP can’t.