Hp Inc 's

The markets for each of our business segments are characterized by vigorous competition among major corporations with long-established positions and a large number of new and rapidly growing firms. Most product life cycles are short, and to remain competitive we must develop new products and services, periodically enhance our existing products and services and compete effectively on the basis of the factors listed above. In addition, we compete with many of our current and potential partners, including OEMs that design, manufacture and often market their products under their own brand names. Our successful management of these competitive partner relationships will be critical to our future success. Moreover, we anticipate that we will have to continue to adjust prices on many of our products and services to stay competitive.

We have a broad technology portfolio spanning personal computing and other access devices, imaging and printing-related products and services, enterprise IT infrastructure products and solutions, multi-vendor customer services and IT management software and solutions. We are the leader or among the leaders in each of our business segments.

The competitive environments in which each segment operates are described below:

Personal Systems. The markets in which Personal Systems operates are intensely competitive and are characterized by price competition and inventory depreciation. Contraction in the PC market and the ongoing shift in customers to tablets and other form factors has further intensified competition in the PC market. Our primary competitors are Lenovo Group Limited, Dell Inc. ("Dell"), Acer Inc., ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Apple Inc., Toshiba Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Samsung") (for tablets). In particular regions, we also experience competition from local companies and from generically-branded or "white box" manufacturers. Our competitive advantages include our broad product portfolio, our innovation and research and development capabilities, our brand and procurement leverage, our ability to cross-sell our portfolio of offerings, our extensive service and support offerings and the accessibility of our products through a broad-based distribution strategy from retail and commercial channels to direct sales.

Printing. The markets for printer hardware and associated supplies are highly competitive. Printings key customer segments each face competitive market pressures in pricing and the introduction of new products. Our primary competitors include Canon U.S.A., Inc., Lexmark International, Inc., Xerox Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Ricoh Company Ltd, Samsung and Brother Industries, Ltd. In addition, independent suppliers offer refill and remanufactured alternatives for HP original inkjet and toner supplies, which are often available for lower prices but generally offer lower print quality and reliability. Other competitors also have developed and marketed new compatible cartridges for HPs laser and inkjet products, particularly outside of the United States where intellectual property protection is inadequate or ineffective. Printing is focused on growth through innovation and growing long-term, high-value recurring business, accelerating the transition from analog to digital printing in graphics, commercial and production environments, driving web and mobile content solutions through our installed base of web-connected ePrinters and growing cloud-based, document-centric commercial solutions and services. Our competitive advantages include our comprehensive solutions for the home, office and publishing environments, our innovation and research and development capabilities, our brand, and the accessibility of our products through a broad-based distribution strategy from retail and commercial channels to direct sales.

Enterprise Group. EG operates in the highly competitive enterprise technology infrastructure market that is characterized by rapid and ongoing technological innovation and price competition. Our primary competitors include technology vendors such as International Business Machines Corporation ("IBM"), Dell, EMC Corporation ("EMC"), Cisco Systems, Inc. ("Cisco"), VMware, Microsoft and Amazon.com Inc. In particular regions, we also experience competition from local companies and from generically-branded or "white-box" manufacturers. Our strategy is to deliver superior products, high-value technology support services and differentiated integrated solutions that combine our infrastructure, software and services capabilities. Our competitive advantages are our broad end-to-end solutions portfolio, supported by our strong intellectual property portfolio and research and development know-how, coupled with our global reach and partner ecosystem.

Enterprise Services. ES competes in the IT services, consulting and integration, infrastructure technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing and application service markets. Our primary competitors include IBM Global Services, Computer Sciences Corporation, systems integration firms such as Accenture Ltd. and offshore companies such as Fujitsu Limited and India-based competitors Wipro Limited, Infosys Limited and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. We also compete with other traditional hardware providers, such as Dell, which are increasingly offering services to support their products, new players in emerging areas like Cloud, and smaller local players. Many of our competitors offer a wide range of global services, and some of our competitors enjoy significant brand recognition. ES teams with many companies to offer services, and those arrangements allow us to extend our reach and augment our capabilities. Our competitive advantages include our deep technology expertise, especially in complex multi-vendor environments, differentiated intellectual property ("IP"), our strong track record of collaboration with clients and partners, and the combination of our expertise in infrastructure management with skilled global resources on platforms from SAP, Oracle Corporation ("Oracle") and Microsoft, among others.

Software. The markets in which Software operates are fueled by rapidly changing customer requirements and technologies. We design and develop enterprise IT management software in competition with IBM, CA Technologies, Inc., VMware, BMC Software, Inc. and others. Our big data solutions, which include data analytics, information governance and digital marketing offerings incorporating both structured and unstructured data, compete with products from companies like Adobe Systems Inc., IBM, EMC, Open Text Corporation, Oracle and Symantec Corporation. We also deliver enterprise security/risk intelligence solutions that compete with products from EMC, IBM, Cisco and McAfee, Inc. As customers are becoming increasingly comfortable with newer delivery mechanisms such as software-as-a-service, we are facing competition from smaller, less traditional competitors, particularly for customers with smaller IT organizations. Our differentiation lies in the breadth and depth of our software and services portfolio and the scope of our market coverage.

HP Financial Services. In our financing business, our competitors are captive financing companies, mainly IBM Global Financing, as well as banks and other financial institutions. We believe our competitive advantage in this business over banks and other financial institutions is our ability to finance products, services and total solutions.