Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, who says Apple is doing a “great job,” has acknowledged that Cupertino will likely outpace HP and become the world’s leading PC manufacturer in 2012.
Whitman, who made the above-mentioned statement to the French newspaper Le Figaro, was commenting on a recent Canalys forecast that predicted Apple’s sales of Macs and iPads would make it the leading PC vendor in 2012.
“I think it’s possible if you integrate the shelves. Apple makes a great job. We need to improve our game and our products to take over the leadership position,” Whitman said.
“[Yes], Apple could go past HP in 2012. We will try to become the champion in 2013. It takes time for the products on which I have come to influence the market.”
Whitman also noted that tablets were not yet comparable to PCs, as they were primarily used to “consume media and emails,” and thus far don’t run “productivity software” such as Microsoft Office.
“This is an important area on which we want to go,” she added.
Since assuming the role of CEO at HP, Whitman has hinted that HP’s future tablet strategy will based on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system, which will support devices powered by both x86 chips and RISC-based ARM processors.
However, as AppleInsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger points out, Microsoft is rumored to be hedging its own bets by mulling a port of its Office software to the iPad, which is currently dominated by Apple’s indigenous iWork apps.
