CONFUSION AROUND HP CAUSING CUSTOMERS TO FLEE

The ongoing confusion over HP's future plans is causing customers to abandon ship, according to reports. The company has been sending out mixed messages since its shock announcement to quit the PC business, as well as stop production of its webOS TouchPad tablet. It makes you wonder what the strategy really is and where they are going.

HP's dithering is already causing customers to look elsewhere, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper cited engineering company Fluor, which generally spends $25 million a year on new hardware and software, and was planning to buy high-end design computers and a fleet of tablets from HP. "I've put that all on hold and won't buy from HP,” said Fluor chief information officer Ray Barnard in the report. "It appears that they're lost right now."

And Fluor was not alone, with the WSJ also citing education customers with doubts over spending money with the world's largest PC manufacturer, amid confusion over its plans and abrupt announcements.
"This appears to just come out of the blue without a really good explanation," Frank Cervone, a vice chancellor for information services at Purdue University, told the paper. "It makes you wonder what the strategy really is and where it is going."

CUSTOMERS SUE AT&T TO BLOCK T-MOBILE ACQUISITION

A handful of AT&T’s customers are now fighting against its planned acquisition of T-Mobile. Law firm Bursor & Fisher filed lawsuits against AT&T on behalf of 11 AT&T subscribers in an effort to block the merger, AllThingsD reported on Friday. The lawyers have created a pitch site titled FightTheMerger.com and argue that The Clayton Antitrust Act gives “anyone who may be affected by a proposed merger” the power to sue in a federal court. “Government enforcement is an important part of the antitrust laws, but the Clayton Act also permits private parties who may be adversely affected to challenge a proposed merger,” one of the lawyers, Scott Bursor, said. “That means any AT&T cellphone, data or iPad customer who will suffer higher prices and diminished service because of this merger can sue to stop it from happening.” Reportedly, the AT&T customer agreement contract blocks customers from filing class-action lawsuits against the carrier. Bursor & Fisher says subscribers can instead file arbitration suits and argues that section 2.2 of AT&T’s customer agreement says customers could win a $10,000 payment. On Wednesday, Senate Antitrust Subcommittee chairman Herb Kohl asked the FCC and the Justice Department to block the merger.

CITIGROUP HACKED, ACCOUNTS COMPROMISED

On Thursday Citigroup announced that hackers had breached its systems in May and accessed personal data from 200,000 accounts — about 1% of its customers. The hackers managed to steal customer email addresses, contact information and account numbers, but Reuters reported that other information such as birth dates, Social Security Numbers and credit card expiration dates were not accessed. “We are contacting customers whose information was impacted. Citi has implemented enhanced procedures to prevent a recurrence of this type of event,” Citigroup spokesperson Sean Kevelighan, said. “For the security of these customers, we are not disclosing further details.”