HP to unveil new media center PC

SAN FRANCISCO: Computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. will introduce a new version of its popular media center personal computer in the next few weeks, an HP executive said.

Duane Zitzner, who runs Hewlett-Packard's personal systems group (its PC and consumer business) also said its tablet PC has been a hit in the medical and insurance industries. And he said PC pricing remains aggressive, with HP and Dell Computer Corp., the two biggest PC makers, jockeying for No. 1 market share.

"In the PC space, it's coming down to a couple of major players, us and Dell," Zitzner said on a conference call with reporters, aimed at providing a progress report since HP bought Compaq Computer last May.

HP's personal system group had revenue in its fiscal first quarter of $5.1 billion, up 2 percent from the prior quarter, and an operating profit of $33 million, compared with a loss of $68 million in the last quarter.

Zitzner said more details about the new version of the media center PC would be announced by Palo Alto, California-based HP in a few weeks.

He declined to comment when asked if PSG would be profitable for the remaining quarters of its fiscal year ending in October. However, he said pricing was aggressive in the just-completed quarter, but "our margins went up and we expect to continue to do that."

He also reiterated HP's goal of reaching operating margins of 2 percent to 3 percent sometime in 2004. HP is rolling out in Europe its table PC, which has a detachable keyboard and can be written on with a stylus, Zitzner said.

"We expect this to be a winner," he said. "Europeans so far like it as much as the U.S. market does."

© Reuters