HP plans handheld thrust

Hewlett-Packard India (HP India), plans on challenging palmOne, Inc's current leadership position in the Indian handheld computer market and catapult itself into the number one position in the next two years.

"This is the right time to have launched our iPaq range of handhelds as mobility as a concept has caught on in the Indian psyche. Customs duties have been nearly halved on handhelds helping us to price the iPaqs at almost the same price of the top-end mobiles currently available," said Sumeet Gugnani, country manager-handhelds, HP India.

The entry level model rz 1710 costs Rs 14,000, the mid-level model which is blue tooth enabled comes at Rs 20,000 and the top-end rz 3715 costs Rs 27,000 and is described as a mobile media companion comes equipped with a in-built still cum video camera and an MP3 player.

HP India expects the sales community employed in industries like pharma, FMCG, courier companies, banking, insurance and other financial services to be the early adopters of the device.

"The iPaqs help to transfer voice, data and can also be connected to the internet thereby helping in improving productivity, clocking faster turnaround times and reducing costs," remarked Gugnani.

Currently HP India is in talks with a host of corporates to spur the demand for its handhelds and has about six to seven pilots which are already active.

"First the corporates test the device through a pilot and then place their orders. The sales cycle takes anything between two to three months to fructify," explained Gugnani.

Currently the Indian handheld market is dominated by palmOne(previously known as Palm) which has nearly 70 per cent of the market share.

"In the next three years we shall grow the Indian handhelds market from the 2,000 pieces that it sells right now to 4,000 a quarter. The iPaq is easy to use as it works on the Microsoft's operating system which has the same simple interface used in desktops," added Gugnani.

HP India will employ the services of the same 25 dealers who sell its laptops to distribute its iPaq series of handhelds.

India's sale of 700 handhelds per month pales in comparison with countries like Thailand which sells 4,000 units, Malaysia with 9,000 units sales and China which sells a whopping 35,000 units.

HP is the market leader in the Asia-Pacific region with an estimated 26 per cent market share and outsells its nearest competitor by about 30 per cent. The market in India is expected to be 80 per cent corporate and the rest of the demand will come from the consumer segment.