As if you needed more proof that tablets are the future, here is HP, one of the foremost PC vendors announcing its plans to shift resources from traditional personal computers to tablets.
Little by little, PC sales continue their downward slide, while smartphones and tablets are busy taking over the technology world. Portable computing is no longer a buzz word and this is something the decision makers at HP seem to understand very well.
Talking to CNET, CEO of HP, Meg Whitman announced this new strategy saying the hardware company plans to compete with the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft in the tablet domain:
“The market moved very fast to tablets and smartphones, and we’ve got to now manage that transition. And it’s not that HP didn’t try to manage that transition — they did with the acquisition of Palm. But as you know under the previous [management] that took a little detour to nowhere.”
The market moved very fast indeed, and like most big titans, HP was slow to react.
To their credit, as Whitman confirms HP were quick to jump the bandwagon early on after the high profile purchase of the PDA (portable digital assistant) maker Palm, but it was deafening silence soon after from them, as both Apple and Google ascended to mobile supremacy.
One question that arises is what camp HP is interested in. Keeping in mind the battle that is raging on between Android and Windows based tablets, the company may either choose a solution, or even decide to develop a new operating system.
Without confirming anything, the CEO did drop a hint that whatever they plan on doing, it has to be fast:
“Innovation is not dead at this company. So, what I did is I increased RD spending…we have to get these products that are close to market to market fast.”
Increased research and development, you say? What that means will hopefully be clear later in the year. HP has impressive enterprise reach, and if tablets really take off in the business sector (as analysts predict they will), HP could launch new solutions and sway its current business partners towards them.
Whatever the case, the company knows it cannot play the waiting game much longer.
