Technology giant Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a $300 million consumer advertising campaign that coincided with the introduction of a staggering 158 new products, from new digital cameras to advanced printers.
“To put it in perspective, we are introducing today almost as many products as there are candidates for the gubernatorial race in California,” joked Carly Fiorina, HP’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Absent from the company’s new product lineup however was virtually any mention of new personal digital assistants-notable because HP is the world’s No. 2 PDA manufacturer with a 16-percent market share in the first quarter.
What is even more notable is that nowhere in HP’s product lineup, new or old, is a PDA with wireless voice functions. Although HP does offer integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies in its line of iPAQ PDAs, as well as clip-on CDMA and GPRS modems, the company has no integrated wireless wide area network devices. Indeed, the company’s only attempt at such a product, the Jornada 928 with integrated GSM/GPRS capabilities, is only available in Europe and Asia and will be discontinued in the coming months.
“They’re behind; there’s no doubt about it,” said Phillip Redman, wireless research director at Gartner Group. However, he added, “It’s not a huge market, so they’re not missing out in a big way.”
But HP is acknowledging the potential of the converged device market. The company confirmed to RCR Wireless News that it will offer a Pocket PC-based “voice-enabled PDA or converged device” sometime early next year.
“We recognize that the convergence of data and voice is an important market trend that particularly addresses the needs of businesses and mobile professionals,” said HP spokeswoman Sheila Watson. “Clearly the market for wireless cellular handheld products is still new, and as it emerges HP will have a strong presence in that area while continuing to provide a choice of wireless capabilities within our award-winning iPAQ Pocket PC line.”
But HP is by no means getting a jump on the market. The world’s No. 1 PDA maker, Palm Inc., introduced its Tungsten W mobile phone/PDA device earlier this year. And in a nod to the importance of wireless, Palm recently paid $169 million in stock to acquire smart-phone maker Handspring Inc.
Interestingly, HP considered expanding into the nascent smart-phone market, but Fiorina decided against such a move, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Regardless, analysts agree PDA makers like HP eventually will be forced to deal in wireless, including wide area networks like GPRS and CDMA.
“They do have to get something out,” said Gartner’s Redman. “Eventually, every PDA will be wireless.”
Redman said some type of wireless technology, be it Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or wide area network support, will be an integral part of most PDAs sold in the coming years. However, the PDA market is no longer a Wall Street star-shipments dropped 11 percent during the past year to 2.8 million units in the first quarter, according to Gartner-so it isn’t imperative that HP be at the forefront of innovation. Further, Redman said, offering a mobile phone/PDA device requires manufacturers to deal with wireless carriers, which adds an additional hurdle.
“It’s going to be part of a service package,” he said. “It’s a lot more complicated.”
