PALO ALTO — Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is trying to move back into the mobile-device space as its core personal computer and printer businesses face serious challenges, with CEO Meg Whitman revealing Friday that the company is working to develop a new smartphone in addition to tablets.
In an interview with Fox Business Network, Whitman said HP is developing a new smartphone to ensure it can get mobile devices into the hands of consumers who use them as their sole computing device, especially in foreign countries.
“We have to ultimately offer a smartphone because in many countries of the world that is your first computing device. You know, there will be countries around the world where people may never own a tablet, or a PC, or a desktop. They will do everything on the smartphone. We’re a computing company; we have to take advantage of that form factor,” Whitman said, according to a transcript.
Whitman said in an August conference call after HP’s most recent quarterly earnings report that the company is also working on tablets, and an Envy X2 hybrid tablet/laptop has been popping up lately, including at the Intel (INTC) Developers Conference last week.
Read also:
HP developing smartphone for 'post-PC era' (Apple Insider)
HP's Whitman: 'We have to offer a smartphone' (ZDNet)
HP's next attempt at a smartphone could target the developing world (BetaNews)
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