Mobile PC and printer products

Features: To cater to the burgeoning demand for computing products which also provide a host of entertainment and information processing capabilities “on the go”, the $ 90 billion HP has unveiled a new range of seven products at different price points to entice choosy customers across the Asia Pacific region.

The new range of unveiled products include four new notebooks in the HP Pavillion series, new add on its iPAQ rX4000 Mobile Media Companion series and an ultra-portable Compaq Presario B 1900 notebook PC which was designed for this region at its Taiwan R&D center.

“We are also launching more than 70 new consumer imaging and printing products, new supplies to the core printing product aimed at enhancing the digital photography ecosystem by providing seamless customer experience,” said Christopher Morgan, HP's senior VP ( APAC region, at a special launch event on the outskirts of Beijing today.

The new range of notebooks are built with integrated connectivity to enable customers to be in touch with their offices or homes on the go with webcams, dual, omni-directional microphones for video conferencing and host of other features including facilities to operate the notebooks with the touch or graze of finger.

The new iPAQ series has a large 2.8 inch touch screen to enable quick launch of music, photo and video files. All these, HP hopes, will enhance the mobile entertainment experience.

With the increasing popularity of digital photography, HP is making a strong attempt to capture the value chain involved in processing the 280 billion more digital pictures that will be taken in the world by the year 2008. About a fourth of these pictures are printed out and HP has a host of suppliers and printers to enable professional quality photos by individual customers.

HP has also unveiled a HP Photosmart A 716 mobile printer, which can store up to 4,000 pictures and print 4X6 inches photos in 39 seconds. In India, the 516 model which has slightly less storage will be available and priced at Rs 5,499. The A 716 model has direct connection to TV and a a HP Photo Fix button will automatically remove red-eye, sharpen blurred images and improve photos.

HP also launched its next generation portable storage solutions with its 2.5 inch-wide HP Pocket Media Drive. The new products will have capacities of 80 to 120 GB, with connectivity through the USB port. The HP Pavillion Series PCs have special slots for the pocket media devices.

The company also unveiled two light weight USB flash drives, c100 and s100. The c100 has 512 MB of embedded memory and can be inserted with an external memory card to expand its storage capacity upto 4 GB. The s100 has a storage capacity of 256 MB to 1 GB and 2 GB and is styled distinctively with a swivel top and neck cord.

Most of the new products will be available in the Asia-Pacific market in September or October.

Price: The iPAQ 4000 will be priced at $ 299/- and the new series of Compaq Presario start at $999/-. The HP Pavillion range starts at $ 1,199/-.