HP bucks the trend, tends the bucks

Unambiguously good news from HP, which has shown strong growth in this quarter's figures. Notebook revenues are up nearly 40 percent on this time last year, but even desktops (desktops! Weren't they supposed to be extinct by now?) have grown at a very respectable 15 percent. And blade servers are positively cutting-edge at 81 percent.

It's not all up, up, up. Consumer printers are down two percent, handhelds more than fifty. And most of the rest of the major revenue areas show more modest gains than the headliners, giving the company an overall 13 percent improvement over this time in 2007.

How does it do it? It's almost too boring to mention; the products are better, the management is better, and the company's read the market very well. About the only unearned bonus is the dollar weakness combined with HP's very strong non-US performance, which means its been getting lots of euro revenues that translate to impressive dollar figures on the bottom line. But even here, good cost management, savvy component buying and competitive pricing has kept the margins up; without those, you don't get joy from strong sales in any currency.

These would be creditable figures no matter when. This year - and this quarter especially - it's the sort of performance that does a company - and the sector - proud.

Now, about that new ultraportable PC...