Hewlett-Packard who have struggled in the past in the PDA market now believe that they can make a go of it in the phone market with the launch of a new Smartphone that will take them right up against the Apple 3G iPhone, the Blackberry and a host of offerings from the likes of Nokia, Sony Erriccson, Samsung and LG.
Hewlett-Packard who have struggled in the past in the PDA market now believe that they can make a go of it in the phone market with the launch of a new Smartphone that will take them right up against the Apple 3G iPhone, the Blackberry and a host of offerings from the likes of Nokia, Sony Erriccson, Samsung and LG.
![]() Click to enlarge |
Both Dell and Acer are currently working on Smartphone offerings while BenQ is set to roll out an internet device that also acts as a mobile phone. In Europe HP has signed a deal with Vodafone to sell the email-enabled phones running on the Windows Mobile operating system no carriers in Australia have admitted to being offered the HP Smartphone in Australia.
According to the Times in the UK David Wright, vice president and general manager of HP’s personal systems group, said the new Smartphone’s were designed to bridge the gap between work and play, targeting what the company calls “prosumers”, or professional consumers, and small and medium businesses.
The move by HP comes at a bad time with speculation mounting that they could well be competing directly with Microsoft who are tipped to be ready to make a $28Billion takeover of the struggling Research In Motion’s (RIMM) who’s share price has plunged more than 60% since June 2008.
Earlier this week Bindu Benjamin, an analyst at broker First Global, downgraded RIM to “market perform with an under-perform bias” over concerns that heavy spending in the face of competition will eat into profit margins. The same day, Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt cut his 2009 revenue growth forecast to 84% from 92%, saying RIM faces a tougher economic environment.
The Company who yesterday launched a new Pearl flip phone in Australia are facing tough market conditions.
Susan Macke, vice president marketing of HP’s handheld global business unit, said: “We had been focused on enterprise but now we’re opening up to work with small and medium businesses (SMB) and prosumers”.

