HP Unleashes All In One Commercial PC Offensive

Hewlett-Packard Monday kicked off its Discover conference with the release of new All In One commercial PCs aimed at capturing Lenovo in the fast-growing market.

With the AIO commercial market growing at a 20 percent year-over- year clip, HP launched a sleek, new HP EliteOne 800 G1 with a 23 percent thinner design priced starting at $899. A Windows 8-based EliteOne 800 G1 featuring edge-to-edge glass touch capability is priced starting at $1,299.

HP made the AIO announcement at its Discover conference, an annual gathering for technology buyers and technical professionals, which runs through Thursday in Las Vegas.

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The multimedia-rich EliteOne G1 systems, which are being embraced in health-care and education markets, also feature HD Webcam, DTS studio sound and a 23-inch height-adjustable diagonal display with VESA mounting options.

The EliteOne G1 800 systems also feature an option that allows the systems to share an Internet connection, with up to five additional devices, via a wireless hotspot application that requires a separately purchased service provider plan.

All of the HP Elite products come with HP enterprise-class security, manageability and Premium 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year support. HP is accelerating the pace of innovation in its AIO systems as it moves to grab the top market-share spot in the U.S. from rival Lenovo, said Derek Everett, director of desktop product management for HP. "With the EliteOne, we have reduced thickness, better design, pinpoint finger touch for Windows 8, NFC, fast-charging USB," he said. "There is just a lot of innovation that we are packing into those All In Ones. That's what makes it exciting."

Everett said HP is No. 2 in the all-in-one market behind Lenovo, with the computer giant moving aggressively to close the market-share position. "We are doing our best to close that gap," he said.

Everett said the consumer market has already made the move to AIO systems, and that change is now taking hold in the commercial market.

"All In One is the fastest-growing subset of the commercial desktop PC market with 15 to 20 percent growth rates," said Everett. "We have seen that with our own business." He said the market growth is being driven by the broad appeal of the space-saving smaller footprint of the AIO offerings, along with the energy savings provided by AIOs in comparison with older systems or bulkier desktop offerings.

"We are seeing high-profile deployments where people are really looking for a stylish, progressive, clutter-free environment," said Everett. "Think of a hotel that has computers for their customers to use. That [AIO system] would be their choice as opposed to towers with a monitor."

NEXT: Introducing The HP ProOne Business AIO Systems

HP also unveiled HP ProOne business AIO systems, including an HP ProOne 600 G1 powered by 4th generation Intel Core processors with prices starting at $999. That system comes with an optional integrated Windows 8 NFC (Near Field Communications) file-sharing software.

Rick Chernick, the CEO of Camera Corner Connecting Point, a Green Bay, Wis.-based HP partner, said he sees the pace of innovation in HP personal systems and printer business accelerating. He credits HP Executive Vice President Printing and Personal Systems Todd Bradley with driving faster development times with the HP research and development team. "We are seeing faster speed to market with innovation that used to take two or three years being done in 12 to 18 months," said Chernick.

In the commercial desktop market, HP launched an HP EliteDesk 800 G1 line with either Windows 7 or Windows 8 priced starting at $815 and an HP ProDesk 600 GI series priced starting at $760.

The commercial desktop market has remained stable for the last three years with about 90 million units shipped even with the explosion of tablet and smartphone devices, said Everett.

"From the HP standpoint, this is a very important business for us," he said. "We currently have No. 1 worldwide market share. The TAM [Total Addressable Market] is larger than notebooks. There is still significant demand for desktops."

The commercial desktops remain popular because of the "low total cost of ownership with the lowest price and longest lifespan of all devices, highest performance, customer flexibility and security," said Everett.

Many customers prefer desktop systems because of the rate at which mobile devices are lost or stolen, said Everett. "You have never heard of anyone that has lost a desktop in the back of a cab," he said. "These systems are less likely to be stolen or broken. And there is a segment of the market that believes there is better security connected to the network. You have a fixed network cable to the network, which they see as better privacy of their data compared to cloud-based [mobile devices]."

Page Murray, vice president of worldwide channel marketing, global marketing, marketing shared services for HP, said he is anxious for partners and customers to get their hands on the new AIO and desktop systems at Discover. In some cases, he said, HP faces a "perception" issue with some partners not familiar with innovative new AIO/PC systems. "The most important thing for me at Discover is to have people there get their hands on the products," he said. "Once they get their hands on the products, everything else will flow from there. They will be amazed."

PUBLISHED ON JUNE 10, 2013