Horace Dediu on Why Robbie Bach Was Fired

Horace Dediu:

No, the reason I believe Bach lost his head is that HP bought Palm.

Bach lost a key account; in fact, he could be responsible for having lost the biggest account that Microsoft ever had. Ballmer is a sales guy and he knows the importance of these relationships. A customer like HP must be managed carefully and their strategy must be steered to fit with yours. If HP felt they needed to go somewhere else for their mobile OS, it’s a slap in the face, but if they buy the asset and IP and internalize a competing platform, then that is a dagger to the heart for Ballmer.

Hard to argue with the timing or the logic. Remember too, that it was an “HP Slate” set to run Windows 7 that Ballmer held up on stage at CES as Microsoft’s flagship new product for 2010.

★ Tuesday, 25 May 2010