Hewlett Packard in the 1980s-1990s had two divisions. The Calculator Division and the Computer Division.

These two divisions each made their own products without reference to each other.

The overlap started when the Calculator Division started to break out from just producing hand-held calculators and started producing products that were effectively Intel-based PCs running CP/M. These started to encroach upon the low-end products of the Computer Division such as the 9836, which used Motorola's 68000 range of processors and HP's own OSs.

So, this wasn't necessarily a marketing trick, it was a quirk of the way in which the company was structured. Once the company realised that this overlap was causing confusion - for example, they had two entirely independent customer support departments, they restructured. At this point the distinction went away.

Hewlett Packard in the 1980s-1990s had two divisions. The Calculator Division and the Computer Division.

These two divisions each made their own products without reference to each other.

The overlap started when the Calculator Division started to break out from just producing hand-held calculators and started producing products that were effectively Intel-based PCs running CP/M. These started to encroach upon the low-end products of the Computer Division such as the 9836, which used Motorola's 68000 range of processors and HP's own OSs.

So, this wasn't necessarily a marketing trick, it was a quirk of the way in which the company was structured. Once the company realised that this overlap was causing confusion - for example, they had two entirely independent customer support and sales departments, they restructured. At this point the distinction went away.

Another driver for unification was that customer companies, including the one I was working for at the time, had products from both divisions and wanted to have one point of contact with HP.