HP CEO Meg Whitman says company won’t introduce a smartphone in 2013
A mention of HP is something of a rarity at Pocketables, mainly because the company hasn’t produced many notable pieces of mobile tech in a long while. Its purchase of Palm – and by extension, webOS – certainly got our hopes up, but not much has happened from the buyout.
Unfortunately, HP is going to continue that trend. Yesterday, at an analyst meeting, CEO Meg Whitman said that HP would not be introducing any new smartphones in 2013. The direct quote: “We don’t have any plans to introduce a smartphone in 2013.”
HP is certainly desperate to get mobile devices out – Whitman even said that HP is working on it. With the success of Android, iOS, and Windows Phone, it only makes financial sense for a technology company to pump out consumer-focused devices that fall into the handset and tablet categories. HP has expressed interest of doing so in the past – and had even released the HP TouchPad – but it was a financial failure.
I’m sure to combat that from ever happening again, HP is taking its sweet time to make truly appealing devices. Still, HP will have a hard time getting back into the handset market after the nightmare that was the Pre 3 and TouchPad launch.
Would you be interested in buying an HP-branded smartphone or tablet?
[Computerworld UK]
