TMCnet News
Hewlett-Packard, Intel set mobility agendas(Total Telecom Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Intel's head of sales and marketing this week made some bold claims about the expected growth of wireless-enabled laptop computers, saying early take-up patterns mirror mobile handset growth in the 1990s with consumer buyers soon set to outnumber business laptop users. According to Sean Maloney, who was speaking at Hewlett-Packard's mobility summit in Shanghai, there are now 150 million mobile computer users in the world. But he said Intel believes that "in time, every mobile phone user will become a mobile Internet computer user." One of Intel's key customers, HP is ramping up its product portfolio to meet this expected increase in demand from both business and consumer users. Indeed HP sees consumer take-up as one of the most important challenges and growth drivers in the coming years. The company said it believes users will typically carry one handheld device and one notebook computer in future as part of its "two-device" view of user behaviour. But while IT equipment specialist HP is rapidly expanding its WiFi and 3G-enabled business and consumer notebook portfolio, with 13 new models set to ship over 2007 as a whole, the Palo Alto-based company still has a limited supply of handheld devices in its mobility product line-up. The company has made it clear that it intends to focus strongly on enterprise handheld devices in the coming months, and has even spun out the handheld business into a separate standalone division. When the company plans to launch its next connected iPaq device, smartphone or otherwise, is far from clear, however. The company unveiled the UMA and SIP-enabled smartphone iPaq 500 series based on Windows Mobile 6.0 at 3GSM this year, and BT has already committed to using the model for its business Fusion users. This device is not yet shipping but is expected to be available this quarter. HP already offers the iPaq 6900 PDA series based on Windows Mobile 5.0. But Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of HP's personal systems group (PSG), refused to put any dates on future launches. "We're not into the marketing game," said McKinney, speaking to Total Telecom in Shanghai. "We don't announce products years ahead of launch," he added. McKinney stressed that more handheld devices are to come. "One thing's for sure: We're not going to settle with the two we have now," he said. Alberto Bozzo, vice president and general manager, commercial products at the PSG group for the EMEA region, noted that HP would be launching a 3G/HSDPA phone "very soon". McKinney also said the decision on whether or not to implement UMA would be taken on a "device by device" basis. He added that HP has experience of putting IMS into smart devices in the lab, but he thinks commercial IMS devices are a good 18 months away. HP's key challenge is to provide "insanely simple" devices, commented McKinney, and said the company has established a very clear focus for the design team. As well as handsets, HP is also stepping up its activities in managing devices and data as both go increasingly mobile. The company this week launched its first mobile device management software for enterprises, the HP Enterprise Mobility Suite, which comprises both server and device software and provides IT managers with the ability to manage and control end-user devices. "Mobile devices are proliferating within the enterprise and there is a growing need for them to integrate into existing management systems," said Dave Rothschild, vice president and general manager, Handheld Global Business Unit. HP also believes that mobile operators need increasingly more help to deliver easy-to-use and attractive services to boost traffic on 3G networks. To this end the company has launched the HP OpenCall Mobile Video Solutions portfolio that includes three services to help drive 3G video service and MMS take-up. Copyright 2007 Terrapinn Ltd |