HP is all set to create an impact in the highly lucrative mobile phone market, as it recently introduced two new 3G
phones, iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator and iPAQ 900 Series Business Messenger. The company has not announced any major carriers.
HP has been making good business in the PDA market. It ranks second in worldwide PDA sales for the first half of 2007, behind market-leader Palm Inc. But the company knows that the popularity of PDA phones is quickly fading due to inventions such as the iPhone (
News -
Alert). So, the company is looking to expand its iPAQ brand of handheld products beyond PDA devices.
Over the last few years, smartphones have invaded the market and are fast making PDA manufacturers sit up and take notice. Phones like Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry (
News -
Alert) and Palm's Treo and now Apple Inc.'s iPhone have been forcing PDA makers to make their devices increasingly Internet friendly.
Says Gene Wang, vice president of marketing for HP's handhelds unit: “It's less that the PDA business is going away, and more that, especially with the new 3G networks coming out, you can put so many new features and services to work. It really brings the enterprise the productivity they're looking for.”
So, HP has tried to include some of the modern day features in its new phones. The iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator has a navigation feature with 3-D maps. The iPAQ 900 Series Business Messenger, a smart phone with a full keyboard, is an addition to another full-keyboard model introduced last year.
Even though HP is a leader in the PDA market, it’s still in its infancy in the smart phone market. The company, known for its PCs and printers, sold less than one percent of the 53 million smartphones shipped during the first six months of the year.
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Raju Shanbhag is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.