HP sees XP’s demise as boost to new pc line

Nestor E. Arellano

11 years ago

LAS VEGAS- “Goodbye XP, hello HP.”

That was Hewlett Packard’s tagline Monday as it announced a new line of laptops, all-in-one (AiO) PCs and desktop computers at HP Discover 2013 here and indicated that it was pinning the future of the new releases on the products’ ability to entice would-be users of Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems.

“The end of technical support for Windows XP on April 2014 will be an excellent opportunity for HP to help users transition to Windows 7 or Windows 8,” said Enrique Lores, senior vice-president of business PCs and solutions at HP. “Our ambition is to be a Microsoft preferred partner that will deliver the devices that will help consumers and business users make the most of these operating systems.”

HP said the new products it announced yesterday and those it will later on will not work with the outgoing XP.

Among the new products introduced by the PC and server maker yesterday were: The HP Elite One 800 business AiO and its consumer-focused sibling the Pro One 600 AiO which both feature touch screen displays and near field communication Wi-Fi and wireless hotspot capabilities; the new line of HP Pro and HP Elite desktop and tower PCs featuring a range of compact form factors; and the point-of-sale focused HP Elite Pad tablet vice.

No more than three months ago various technology industry analysts have partly blamed the touch-enabled Windows 8 OS for the sluggish PC market last year and early this year. They cited the slow adoption rate of Windows 8, coupled with other factors such as longer product replacement cycles due to budget constraints and the popularity of tablet devices as the reason for slow PC sales.

(The HP Flow CM Professional)

However, HP executives yesterday said they are bullish on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

“We’re not saying Windows 8 is better than Windows 7 or the other way around, each OS appeals to a different kind of user,” said John Tomesco, VP of enterprise business development and printing and personal systems for HP. “But Widows 7 is a very popular OS and we see adoption of Windows 8 growing.”

He also said that HP was going big on all-in-one PC’s because both consumer and business users are exhibiting a growing preference for this form factor.

“All-in-ones are still just 10 per centish of our sales but their popularity continues to grow,” according to Tomesco.

Among the things users like about AiOs are the single power supply, low cost and slimmer design.

Other product announcements made by Todd Bradley, executive VP of HP’s printing and personal systems group included:

HP Retail Jacket for ElitePad – The mobile solution allows businesses to meet customer needs anywhere in the store with mobile point of sale and assisted selling capabilities. It integrates into retailers’ existing IT infrastructure, allowing them to connect to existing store systems and improve customer service
HP ePrint Enterprise 2.2 now includes integration with mobile device management (MDM) solutions from Good Technology, a partner with more than 3,800 customers globally. The app gives mobile users the ability to securely print from Good applications while allowing enterprise IT administrators flexible control of security policies for a variety of mobile configurations

Bradley also introduced several cloud-based solutions such as:

HP Relate, an application that enabled users of Salesforce.com’s customer relations management tools to create highly personalized marketing documents from anywhere within the Salesforce environment and be able to print this content or transmit it online to customers
HP Flow CM Professional enhancements give customers of the cloud-based, content management solution additional security and flexibility with encryption at rest and support for the Android platform. The new encryption-at-rest feature helps to ensure that sensitive business content remains secure and encrypted when access controls such as user names and passwords fail