HP's new lineup aims to up IT penetration in PHL

Global IT solutions vendor Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Wednesday revealed a redesign of its consumer PC product line, as it aims to corner more of the Philippine market and contribute to its IT penetration growth. Albert Mateo, country general manager for HP Philippines’ personal systems group, said predictions of the economy’s upturn are a positive sign for IT spending, especially in emerging markets like the Philippines. “Corollary to [the economic growth] will be the spending in IT," Mateo pointed out. “As more and more people get more jobs in growing sectors such as the BPO industry, the penetration of IT in households will definitely increase," he added. Market forecasts Mateo shared that, in recent years, the IT penetration has doubled from a mere 5.3% to around 12.7% last year. “There is therefore no argument that Filipinos are among the top users of Facebook and Twitter in the world. The investment of telecom firms in the countryside will likewise propel more IT penetration in the coming years," he said. Despite this positive outlook, reports are grim for the global PC market as research firm IDC reports the sector’s first contraction since the end of the recent recession. “Although the forecast for the quarter was already conservative – IDC expected a mere 1.5% growth in shipments – a steady but still cautious business mentality and waning consumer enthusiasm persisted. A spike in fuel and commodity prices and the disruptions in Japan added to the mix, further dampening a market struggling to maintain momentum," IDC reported. Though HP continued to lead PC vendors in worldwide PC shipments—commanding 18.9% of the market—its growth declined 2.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011. "While the consequences of events in the Middle East and Japan remain unclear, these will surely be factors that will influence short-term market performance for 2011," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Long-term success will depend on hardware manufacturers being able to articulate a message that is beyond simple hardware specifications." HP’s way of propagating this message through its newly redesigned consumer line is by focusing on people’s passions as a way of changing how people think, feel, and connect. New HP notebooks For example, its new HP Envy notebooks, part of its luxury performance line, sport the Beats by Dr. Dre line of audio equipment, made famous by products supposedly designed by up and coming artists such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, making it perfect for audiophiles and music-oriented users. The Envy’s 3.5mm audio jack also doesn’t contain any metal materials, “reducing the noise and making audio fidelity more accurate," claimed Kath Wong, market development manager for consumer notebooks, HP Philippines. The notebook also comes packed with a host of HP-exclusive features, such as CoolSense technology, which gives the users the power to control their fan speeds depending on the environment they are in. HP’s SimplePass technology, meanwhile, makes it convenient for users to access multiple accounts on the system or over the Internet with just a simple swipe of their thumbprint. Local availability and pricing details weren’t disclosed by HP Philippines, but noted that they are working doubly hard to include the Philippines in the list of countries included in the Envy’s eventual release outside the United States. — TJD, GMA News