HP announced last month the creation of its new “Mobility Global Business Unit” to focus on its return to consumer tablets. At the time, Todd Bradley, HP’s Executive Vice President, Printing and Personal Systems Group, promised that the group would eventually enter other markets “where we believe we can offer differentiated value to our customers.” In an interview with Fox Business News, CEO Meg Whitman revealed that smartphones may well be one of those future markets. She explained,
“We have to ultimately offer a smartphone because in many countries of the world that would be your first computing device. There will be countries where people may never own a tablet or a PC or a desktop. They will do everything on the smartphone. We are a computing company, we have to take advantage of that form factor.”
HP would not be new to smartphones. As late as last year, it offered smartphones, like the Pre 3 and Veer, powered by webOS. Prior to that, it carried a number of Windows Mobile devices. Remember the iPAQ Data Messenger or the iPAQ 900 Business Messenger?
Whitman did not reveal any timelines for HP’s return to the smartphone market or details about any upcoming devices.
Sources : Fox Business News // The Verge