MERE weeks after Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, more popularly known here and everywhere else as Filipino professional boxer Manny Pacquiao, made his debut on US prime-time TV as a pricey global brand ambassador for information technology leader Hewlett-Packard (HP)—hawking the company’s webOS-powered Veer, an über-pocketable smartphone “that packs a punch”—the eight-division world champion was back in American homes.
This time, he was touting HP’s highly anticipated entry into the tablet PC war—the TouchPad, which makes its debut in the US market on July 1.
Not unlike his pitch for the Veer, Pacquiao rattles off the singular features of the upcoming tablet PC powered by the award-winning mobile OS, with his pugilistic mug craftily hidden behind the 10-inch display of this gorgeous slate of untethered technology until the crucial last few seconds of the commercial.
“They said I couldn’t win a fight, but I did.... They said I couldn’t get elected to Congress, but I did.”
The subtext is, of course, that not unlike Pacquiao, the HP TouchPad is going to be a rousing triumph despite some skepticism in the face of fierce competition in a marketplace dominated by Apple’s iPad and those increasingly ubiquitous tablet PCs powered by Google’s Android OS.
That HP is currently being defined in the media by its new, upcoming and untested but altogether exciting offerings in the mobile communications space must be galling to the world’s top purveyor of PCs, printers and servers. It is, however, inevitable and inescapable, especially given the increasing consumerization of the tech industry as consumers increasingly define and drive the bottomline of most companies devoted to bits and bytes. Of course, it is also hard to argue that a stunningly lit, gorgeously photographed consumer device, such as a tablet PC makes for a far sexier tech magazine cover than a printer.
Still, it can’t be underscored enough that HP has become one of the most profitable tech companies in the world, no small thanks to its imaging and printing solutions. Recently, the company invited members of the tech media in the region to its headquarters in Singapore as it unveiled new imaging and printing solutions, devices and partnerships designed to help enterprises accomplish an instant-on vision, increase operational efficiency, decrease costs and accelerate their business growth. Key news highlights of the reveal include:
n Instant-On Enterprise—For businesses with on-the-go workers who need to access and use content from their smart devices, HP ePrint Enterprise is now available on HP webOS, iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices. HP ePrint Enterprise improves productivity through mobile access to print without data ever leaving a secure network.
n New solution business partner—Hyland Software Document Capture and Workflow Solutions’s OnBase is a comprehensive enterprise content management suite that accelerates document-intensive business processes.
n First AP Remote Management Center—Always-on remote monitoring service for HP MPS (managed printing solutions) enterprise customers.
n New devices that protect long term investment and support accelerated growth, including the HP LaserJet Enterprise M4555 MFP series, a secure, easy-to-use mono MFP designed to help businesses increase efficiency and improve document workflow; and the HP Officejet Pro 8000 Enterprise printer, the company’s first Officejet Pro inkjet printer that can operate in enterprises’ managed print environment at an extremely competitive cost.
“Southeast Asian businesses are demanding agile and simple solutions to respond to complex business situations, especially in light of rapidly changing economic environments,” Pierre Mirlesse, vice president, Managed Enterprise Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard Asia-Pacific and Japan, said in a statement. “Our new technologies and innovations are designed to deliver exactly that, transforming paper-intensive processes into simple digital workflows, allowing businesses to identify new opportunities for growth.”
According to HP, MPS are increasingly being recognized as a strategic business tool to manage information-technology costs and to improve workflow efficiency. An analysis of enterprise imaging and printing operations by HP reveals energy savings of between 30 percent and 80 percent, and reductions in paper consumption by millions of pages.
Of course, for consumers, particularly mobile workhorses, the most compelling among HP’s new imaging and printing solutions for the enterprise will doubtless be the HP ePrint Enterprise, which allows the road warrior to print that important document—say, for the immediate perusal of the boss—over a secure network straight from his smartphone or tablet PC wherever he may be. Imagine not having to rush back to the office at the height of Metro Manila’s infamous traffic just to get that contract your boss needs to sign on before he leaves for that 15:30 flight to the Cayman Islands.
Sweet, isn’t it?
No doubt HP’s upcoming trifecta of webOS goodness—the Veer, the TouchPad and the Pre3—will have ePrint capabilities. After all, not only has Leo Apotheker, the company’s affable and voluble CEO, declared that it will also leverage webOS in the enterprise space, but that also fits in nicely with the ecosystem of hardware, software and services that HP is actively building.
Unfortunately, nobody among the HP regional executives we chatted up was willing to go beyond the company line (“They will be coming to the region soon”) about HP’s eagerly anticipated mobile devices. Apparently, nobody from even HP Philippines is at liberty to talk about Pacquiao’s endorsement deal, never mind that both the print and broadcast media around these parts have been all over it.
However understandable the media embargo might be—contractual considerations perhaps?—one can’t help but feel that it is such a missed opportunity particularly in the Philippines.
