Wednesday during HP's earnings conference call, CEO Meg Whitman told reporters and financial analysts that the company will be "well-positioned for [the] holiday [season] on Windows 8 x86."
The news arrives after Whitman announced in 4Q12 that the company would indeed keep its Personal Systems Group in-house rather than spin it off as a separate company. HP is now in full recovery mode after taking a severe financial beating stemming from the PSG uncertainty, and likely depends on Windows 8 to help bring the company back into a more positive limelight.
Windows 8 itself isn't expected to arrive until the fall, possibly sometime around BUILD 2012. But consumers will get an early taste of the new OS by the end of the month thanks to the launch of Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Yet reports claim that several companies plan to push Windows 8 products out the door this summer, but HP aims to wait for the deal deal, and so it should.
"The better Windows 8 is, the better off we are. So, we're rooting for a fantastic Windows 8 product that's delivered on time that we can get to market before the holiday season," she said during the call, indicating that the company may already be prepared for a possible Windows 8 launch delay.
HP is obviously hoping to beat the 2012 Holiday spending spree by launching Windows 8-based products beforehand. But if a delay does occur, HP may have Windows 8-compliant devices ready to launch by 3Q12/4Q12, possibly packed with vouchers to upgrade to Windows 8 when the OS finally arrives.
As for Windows On ARM (WOA) products, Whitman made no mention of producing related gadgets by the end of 2012. So far this version of the new OS is slated to launch alongside its x86/64 counterpart, but it too could see a delay into 1Q13, even more so than the x86/64 version.
Material relating to the conference call, including an actual recording, can be accessed here.
