Hewlett-Packard, as part of an unprecedented worldwide launch of over 20 products, launched 10 business class notebooks that it expects will go a long way to usurping Dell's dominance in this space.
While HP has made some impressive gains in the notebook space as late, much of that success has been in the consumer space rather than with the corporate set. The new systems that HP is bringing to market, as expected, are sleeker, more powerful and add some new styling touches intended to capture both the hearts and minds of potential users. But upon further review, you can't help but wonder if we're all starting to miss the point when it comes to PC design.
At the core of the misconception is the notion that there needs to be a difference between consumer and business-class notebooks. Today's business class notebook is essentially the same box as a consumer PC minus some additional bells and whistles that has to do with screen size and graphics. But when you look at the consumer class PC, it sports features that any user could appreciate at a cost differential that is minimal. So the question that needs to be asked is why are we going to all this trouble to have all these different classes of notebooks?
In HP case you can't help but wonder if that consumer thinking is limiting its approach to a new touch screen user interface that HP has developed as an add-on to Windows Vista. The HP user interface creates a user experience that is closer to what Apple offers than what people get from Microsoft, but for the moment at least, it's only available on a limited number of systems. And yet this is the very type of innovation that could really distinguish HP from Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba and all the rest in the mobile PC market.
Given the current state of the economy, some PC manufacturers such as Fujitsu are also starting to ask themselves if they really need to build and support so many different classes of notebooks. Sure there was a time when IT people could legitimately argue that there organizations shouldn't have to pay for additional bells and whistles in consumer devices that there organization don't require. But PC pricing has been pushed down to the point that buying a corporate PC for the essentially the same price as a full-function consumer PC doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Beyond the pricing issue there is also more awareness that graphics and videos are core parts of the Windows 2.0 experience that is driving a major change in the way we think about visualizing applications. There is no doubt that HP new fleet of business class notebooks will give all of its competitors in the Windows space a run for their money. But when we look at the excitement that is being generated around Apple these days you can't help but wonder if the entire Windows PC segment of the industry is missing the point.
No doubt they've noticed that Apple is gaining ground not only with consumers, but an increasing number of business class users. The thing to take away from that is that there is a growing appreciation for innovation in the PC space so maybe it's high time that HP and other PC manufacturers started thinking more about playing it a little less safe when it comes to driving innovation in Windows PC market that still relies a little too much on the principals of cloning than innovation.