Will HP’s Three New Devices Be Enough To Help It Crack The Market?

HP TouchPad

HP (NYSE: HPQ) has ditched the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) brand and launched three new devices today on its updated HP WebOS platform: the TouchPad tablet, the diminutive Veer smartphone and the newest edition of their flagship phone, the Pre3. And in what might be the company’s boldest move yet since buying Palm last year, the company has also said that it would also be launching PCs using the OS too. Will it be enough to crack the market?

The world of smartphones today seems to be slowly moving towards a duopoly run by Android and Apple’s iOS, and people have been wondering what other operating systems might be able to break that trend. Today HP laid out a portfolio of devices and services that indicated that it very much wants to be a contender:

The devices. A big emphasis on multitasking in all the devices, slide-out keyboards for the smartphones and crisp displays. The Veer, when closed, is no bigger than a credit card and no thicker than a deck of cards.

The Pre3 (and to some extend the TouchPad) seems to be targeting business users, and by default looking to take market share away from RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) most of all. “Finally a phone you can use for business that you don’t want to leave at work,” said Jon Rubinstein, SVP and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP.

The TouchPad, HP’s first tablet using WebOS, has a 9.7-inch screen and some very nifty special features. One that stood out for me was that apparently you can adjust the size of the on-screen keyboard to a size that’s comfortable with your hands.

— Services. Some nice features, which, coming from HP, are all hardware-led: a touch-to-share feature lets people share content between WebOS devices. The Touchstone charger lets people charge devices on a dock that doesn’t require connections.

Like the other device manufacturers, HP is making a big emphasis on services and content features to differentiate and enhance its offering for the consumer market. Partnerships announced today include a special Kindle app for WebOS, new magazine apps, such as one from Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) optimised for the WebOS tablet. HP has also created its own movie store, as well as an optimised music sound system, called Beats Audio.

Currently HP has a relatively small share of the smartphone market worldwide — it doesn’t even break into the top five, according to Gartner, and would have less than a four percent share worldwide — so this new trio of devices is its big play to see if it can change that — or conversely develop a viable business on a small share. The company has such a massive continuum of other consumer electronics and linking these three devices into those — with printer functionality, and also by eventually putting WebOS into PCs — it’s giving the devices the best chance they have of breaking into the market.

HP certainly delivered an impressive show, but it possibly spent just a little too long on its press conference today — getting on two hours, with a cavalcade of guests, from Paul Jacobs, the CEO of Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM), to the music producer Jimmy Iovine (promoting Beats Audio). Now it will remain to be seen whether the devices follow through on that: too much rather than just enough of what the market wants or needs.

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