Even though it was being widely anticipated that an outsider will likely head Hewlett-Packard (HP), after the sudden ouster of the company’s CEO Mark Hurd on August 6, most industry observers have been taken aback by the announcement of Leo Apotheker - the ex-head of German software company SAP – as the new HP chief executive.

Despite the fact that the 57-year-old Apotheker is a soft industry veteran and a polyglot salesman, qualified in economics and internal relations, his appointment has at the HP helm has led to apprehensions about his ability to steer the diverse $130-billion hardware services company that dominates the PC, server, IT services and printer businesses.

Expressing doubt about Apotheker moving from a software company to HP, Fort Pitt Capital analyst Kim Caughey noted: “SAP is a very different sort of company than HP, and that is my biggest concern. The scope of SAP is very different, as are the customers. What does he know about hardware? That's the question.”

Furthermore, people acquainted with Apotheker are of the opinion that his sharp business expertise notwithstanding, his leadership record is a somewhat ‘mixed’ one. His abrupt departure from SAP in February – after a barely seven-month terms at the helm – came amid a flurry of customer complaints and investor criticism.

Nonetheless, among Apotheker’s most notable achievements at SAP was the execution of the company’s first major acquisition - the $7.5-billion purchase of business intelligence maker Business Objects.