They use to own the old PDA market with their Compaq iPaq now Hewlett-Packard wants to take a stab at the Smart Phone market up against the likes of Nokia, Apple and Sony Ericcsson.
The Company who have struggled in the portable devices market up against Smart Phones claim that they now want to grow their device business beyond corporate users with the new device also being used for home automation management.
The new device will initally be rolled out in Europe where it will be sold via IT stores and telecommunication carriers though the Company has not named which ones.
According to Reuters the new device will have a touchscreen and keypad and will use Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system. It will also be able to send and receive emails, and access the Internet.
The phone is the latest version of H-P’s iPaq devices. H-P, which has been selling iPaq-branded devices since it acquired personal-computer maker Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002, primarily focused earlier iPaqs on businesses and typically didn’t sell them through retail stores.
H-P spokesman Mike Hockey said the most recent iPaq device, a business-oriented smart phone, was launched in June. H-P trails behind manufacturers like Nokia Corp. and Research in Motion Ltd. in world-wide smart-phone sales, according to market researcher IDC, with less than a 3.3% global market share. Mr. Hockey said, “the iPaq brand is extremely strong around the world, especially in the European market.”
