Ultrabooks are well designed packages of glass and metal that showcase humankind’s mastery of technology. So are the skyscrapers of Shanghai, China, a city whose relentless march toward modernity provided the ideal backdrop for Hewlett Packard to unveil its latest ultrabooks and printers.
“I’m not sure there is a better city in the world than Shanghai to showcase these capabilities,” Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP’s Printing and Personal Systems Group, said at the event. “No [city] in the world is more mobile and connected than Shanghai.”
Shanghai is also a city full of consumers, and a place where China’s economic boom can be seen firsthand. It’s also the site of one of HP’s Printing and Personal Systems Group R&D centers.
During a Q&A at HP’s Global Influencer Summit, a local reporter asked Bradley about this impact consumerization is having on HP’s PC and printer lineup .
“We’ve already started that transition [to consumerization],” Bradley responded. “We believe in the ubiquity of solutions for consumer and enterprise … We’re well down the path of executing on that model.”
HP combined its PC and printer businesses in March, so the products it rolled out in Shanghai carry the distinctive DNA of their respective groups. In the future, PPS will bring its own product development strategy to bear, one that will include the seamless connection of printers to PCs, according to Bradley.
“Our strategy is to focus on the creation and consumption of content, and doing it across multiple sets of platforms,” Bradley said.
John Solomon, head of HP’s PPS Americas business, said tying together these products — something that did not happen when the Personal Systems Group and Imaging and Printing Group were separate entities — will take greater precedence to the “speeds and feeds” that have defined HP’s go-to-market approach.
“On the PC side, we’re looking at the total process a person gets involved in, including workflow and how they interact,” Solomon said.