“During Wednesday’s debate, hosted by CNN, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said that Steve Jobs had called her on the day she was fired as CEO of Hewlett-Packard,” David Goldman reports for CNN. “‘Hey, been there, done that — twice,’ Jobs said, according to Fiorina… In an op-ed on CNN.com in August, Fiorina compared herself to Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Michael Bloomberg and Oprah — because they were all fired at least once.”
“In an interview with Bizwomen in February, Fiorina said that Jobs gave her the ‘best career advice’ she ever got after she was fired: ‘Do nothing for six months so you really know what you want to do,'” Goldman reports. “Though HP and Apple were rivals during Fiorina’s tenure as CEO, Fiorina and Jobs did do a rather strange business deal in 2004: Apple agreed to sell iPods through HP’s sizable distribution channels, marketed as the ‘Apple iPod+HP.’ It helped the iPod get sold at Walmart for the first time.”
“After poor sales, HP ended its distribution deal with Apple in July 2005 (after Fiorina had been fired),” Goldman reports. “HP agreed to continue pre-loading iTunes onto its PCs and committed not to release an iPod competitor until 2006 — and Apple eventually started selling iPods in HP’s retailers anyway — which led some to believe that Jobs duped Fiorina into a bad deal. (Some friend!)”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote on February 9, 2005:
Let’s face it, Fiorina got jobbed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs with the “Apple iPod by HP” deal. We actually felt bad for her, seeing her onstage holding up that blueish-grey iPod mockup. Steve must have had a really good laugh after he got the ink on that deal. How could Fiorina justify that deal with HP’s slogan “Invent” plastered everywhere? It was totally ridiculous. Why not just come right out and say, “Oh, ‘Invent’ is only a marketing slogan, we don’t really invent anything anymore, silly!” Fiorina always seemed to be in over her head and HP will probably be better off now.
Steve Jobs may well have been friends with Fiorina, but regarding the “Apple iPod by HP” deal, as Carl Icahn said: “You learn in this business: If you want a friend, get a dog.”
SEE ALSO:
Carly Fiorina: Tim Cook’s opposition to Indiana religious freedom law hypocritical – April 6, 2015
Report: Hewlett-Packard to stop reselling Apple iPods by September [UPDATED] – July 29, 2005
Carly Fiorina resigns as boss of Hewlett-Packard – February 9, 2005
Hewlett-Packard ousts CEO Carly Fiorina, and what was with that ‘Apple iPod by HP’ deal anyway? – February 9, 2005
Analyst: Hewlett-Packard may want to make their own MP3 music players – July 29, 2005
HP adds ‘Apple iPod shuffle from HP’ to digital music player line – July 01, 2005
Hewlett-Packard adds ‘Apple iPod mini from HP’ to iPod digital music player lineup – June 02, 2005
Hewlett-Packard expands branded iPod lineup, announces ‘Apple iPod photo from HP’ models – April 12, 2005
Hewlett-Packard adds ‘iPod dock holder’ to latest Media Center desktop – March 31, 2005
What’s the point of continuing the ‘Apple iPod by HP’ deal? – March 30, 2005
Apple, Hewlett-Packard debut new iPod television commericals – August 30, 2004
Hewlett-Packard-branded Apple iPod to debut Friday – August 26, 2004
Why Hewlett-Packard took Apple’s iPod shortcut – February 02, 2004
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
