Keen guys at WPDang noticed something interesting at HP’s Global Influencer Summit in Shanghai. In general, HP didn’t say anything particular about its mobile strategy, except for giving a little bit regular blah blah on Windows 8 tablets. But in the Q&A section, Todd Bradley at HP said:
“Aside from Windows 8 tablets, HP is planning to address further needs of the consumers, and release more consumer-oriented products in cooperation with Microsoft.”
Now what does this mean? “Consumer-oriented” eliminates the possibility of server products. Zune is dead. Xbox is definitely not for HP to tamper with. What else could HP and Microsoft work together, except for PC and tablets? The most likely answer is: smartphones.
HP does did have a smartphone/PDA line, if you recall, dubbed “iPaq”. If you’ve been geeky all along, “iPaq 4700″ and “iPaq 210″ might ring a few bells. Later HP acquired Palm and took over the webOS family. Now both of HP’s mobile castles in ruins, it’s not a bad idea to take a third try with Windows Phone, especially when Windows Phone 8 (Apollo) is just around the corner, and the archenemy Dell is doing might badly in smartphone sector.
What do you guys think? If this turns out to be true, will you embrace a revived iPaq family, if only for old time’s sake?
