In a move that is reflective of the shift to the post-PC era, PC maker HP has unveiled its first Android consumer tablet, the HP Slate 7.
The device is an entry-level product, but HP says it is just the beginning of an aggressive strategy to offer a broad set of consumer products. The tablet runs Android Jelly Bean and is powered by an ARM Dual Core Cortex-A9 1.6GHz processor. It has a 3MP rear-facing camera and a VGA front-facing camera. HP says it is the first tablet to offer embedded Beats Audio.
HP's senior VP of the mobility global business unit, Alberto Torres, says: "To address the growing interest in tablets among consumers and businesses alike, HP will offer a range of form factors and leverage an array of operating systems."
HP has also recently released an HP Chromebook, so the company says the Slate 7 is part of its push to offer the Google experience. This is alongside HP's existing array of Windows 8 tablets and tablet/ultrabook hybrids, including the ElitePad 900, which is aimed at enterprise users.
Currently, if the iPad is included in global computer sales figures, Apple comes out on top as the biggest seller. As a result, HP is seeing the need to carve a place for itself in the consumer tablet space in order to maintain its position in the personal computing market.
Torres told The Verge: "HP is the number one PC manufacturer in the world, and we want to be the number one computer vendor in the world. That means we need to be in the tablet space."
According to Torres, the Slate 7 is positioned as an entertainment device with a starting price of $169. By way of comparison, Google's Nexus 7 tablet costs $199, as does Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. The Slate 7 will first go to market in the US in April.
Torres says: "On the tablet side, it's entirely our intent to have a broad set of products on the market... to cover more segments of the market we'll need more products, and you'll see us aggressively pursue that over the year."
Android adoption
Earlier this month, it was reported that in the wake of the market failure that was HP's webOS platform and product offerings, the company was adopting Android for a new line of mobile products. WebOS was HP's bid to offer devices with fully integrated hardware and software - a strategy that has proven extremely successful for Apple, but which many have failed to replicate.
Apart from tablet offerings, it has also been rumoured that HP is working on an Android-based smartphone. Last year, HP CEO Meg Whitman said the company would "have to ultimately offer a smartphone, because in many countries of the world that would be your first computing device". She has, however, also said HP would not debut a smartphone in 2013, and would instead test the waters with a tablet first.
In 2011, HP took its first stab at the tablet market with the "TouchPad". After just seven weeks in the market, retailers were told to liquidate their inventories of the 10-inch tablet - slashing the price from $499 to $99.
Market perspective
According to the IDC, worldwide tablet shipments reached a record 52.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"The tablet market grew 75.3% year over year in 4Q12 (up from 29.9 million units in 4Q11) and increased 74.3% from the previous quarter's total of 30.1 million units," said IDC, adding that this growth was largely attributed to lower average selling prices and a wide range of new product offerings.
By comparison, PC sales in the fourth quarter were down by 6.4% year-on-year, with a total 89.8 million PC units shipped. HP managed to beat out Lenovo as the top vendor for the quarter. IDC says: "Consumers, as well as PC vendors and distribution channels, continued to be diverted from PC sales by ongoing demand for tablets and smartphones."
Reuters reports the Slate 7 is part of Whitman's multi-year turnaround strategy for HP. The company has been battling against falling sales and margins from PCs, costly acquisitions and governance issues. The company's market value has dropped by nearly two-thirds since April 2010.
Share