Russia slams HP for closing native web site, claims world is boycotting the corporate
In context: HP halted its operations in Russia and Belarus quickly after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, like many different tech firms. The tech large has now accomplished its exit from Russia, shutting down the native web site used to obtain drivers and for technical assist. In response, Russia has complained that HP supplied no warning that it was about to shut the location. Moreover, the nation’s media is pointing to the controversy over HP’s printer ink insurance policies, claiming that “the remainder of the world is boycotting HP.”
In March 2022, HP was considered one of many Western corporations to announce it was leaving Russia and Belarus – the place its gross sales generated round $1 billion – as a response to the invasion of Ukraine. The affect of stopping the provision of kit to the international locations wasn’t too extreme because of parallel imports, which contain importing merchandise from different nations with out the permission of the IP proprietor.
Now, to adjust to US-mandated sanctions, HP has utterly withdrawn from Russia. Attempting to entry HP’s Russian web site routinely redirects guests to the corporate’s web site in Kazakhstan, the place Russian is without doubt one of the two most-spoken languages. Customers can obtain drivers for HP merchandise from this web site, however there isn’t any on-line assist. HP’s Belarus web site additionally redirects to the Kazakhstan web site.
Russian information outlet CNews complains that HP didn’t ship out notifications informing customers that it was shutting down its Russian web site, selecting as a substitute to do all the pieces surreptitiously. The publication notes that this stands in distinction to Microsoft, which gave Russian firms a few week to search out new cloud companies earlier than kicking them off its platform.
HP noticed its 36% share of the Russian printer market fall to 21% within the third quarter of 2022 following the suspension of operations. Chinese language firm Pantum took the highest spot with a 53% share, up from simply 16% a yr earlier. Second-place Epson nonetheless has a 22.1% share of the Russian market regardless of it additionally suspending exports in 2022.
CNews writes that whereas HP is boycotting Russia, the remainder of the world is boycotting HP. The location highlights the long-running controversies over the corporate’s printers, together with its ink subscription mannequin and the coverage of forcing folks to make use of HP cartridges.
