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HP focusing on education sector for its sub-notebook offering

by Scott Bicheno on 30 July 2008, 16:55

Tags: HP (NYSE:HPQ)

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What about the consumer market?

Baerenstecher stressed that he thinks the 2133 is also suitable for the SME/SOHO sector as, possibly, a second “on the road” system, but it’s clear that education is where HP is really targeting it. When we asked him how it was selling, he said: “We’re getting as many orders as we expected and more.”

And lest we forget, the sub-notebook category originated with projects like OLPC (one laptop per child), which had the original aim of providing cheap laptops for education in developing countries.

However, the sub-notebook market exploded far beyond the confines of third world education when Asus launched the Eee PC late last year and scored an unexpectedly big hit with consumers. Since then nearly all the other major vendors have joined the consumer sub-laptop party except HP.

We asked Baerenstecher if this was going to change any time soon. “We’ll see what happens over the next few quarters. We don’t want to offer people products they don’t want.” This is a surprisingly circumspect attitude by HP, but possibly a wise one. There has definitely been a stampede to join the sub-notebook market this year and HP may be thinking “If you can’t be the first, be the best.”

Only time will tell, but by focusing on what it believes to be the most promising market and learning from its competitors’ mistakes in the consumer space, HP could be positioning itself cleverly to pounce next year.

When, in conclusion, we asked Baerenstecher if he was worried about losing ground to the Asus Eee PC, his answer appeared to confirm that strategy: “Where is the Eee PC really selling and what are the return rates?” he asked. Over to you Asus.

 

Related reading:

Are sub-notebooks just a fad?

IDC: UK PC market grows by 26.4%


HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

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awesome netbook HP, especially the good looks and ruggedness.

put a 10" LED screen in the same chassis, a PCexpress slot and a better CPU/GPU and this will be worth the extra money over what an eepc/Wind costs.
Is this really worth £400+ for the Windows version?