Partners: HP's New Elite x3 Windows 10 Device Is A Mobility Game Changer, Shattering Smartphone Limitations

Solution providers say HP Inc.'s new Elite x3 Windows 10 device now makes it possible for business customers to access everything they need on a single handheld product – including Windows legacy applications - eliminating the need to switch between smartphones, laptops and desktops.

"This is smarter than a smartphone," exclaimed Joe Hemani, founder and sole owner of Westcoast, a $3 billion United Kingdom distributor that's betting big on the Elite x3. "HP has leapfrogged everyone in the mobile market by giving you the ability to have anything and everything you need when you are away from your office. You no longer need to tap into your legacy systems with another device like a laptop or desktop, and - by the way - you can use it to call your grandmother!"

Hemani credited the HP Inc. commercial mobility team, led by Vice President and General Manager Michael Park, with pushing the technology barrier beyond all limits to deliver a new standard for commercial mobility.

[Video: HP Inc. Launches Elite X3 Solution for Mobile Productivity With Big Channel Play]

By leveraging Qualcomm Inc.'s most powerful Snapdragon processor and Microsoft's Continuum technology in Windows 10, HP has opened the door for partners to modernize the tens of thousands of Windows apps that have been unavailable on smartphones up until now, said Hemani.

Park, who has overseen the Elite x3's development and sales plan, said the product is focused squarely on a solution provider-centric model, in sharp contrast to those of carrier-based consumer smartphones. "We are not going to drop this into carrier channels and subsidize it and sell it through consumer retail," he said. "This product set is reserved exclusively for our commercial channel."

Partners said the device marks the first time they have been at the tip of the spear to aggressively attack the explosive handheld device market in their commercial accounts. "What HP has delivered with Continuum is an unbelievable thread between what customers have in their workplace to wherever they are on the go - even in a subway," said Hemani. "You are now continuous wherever you may be. There is no other device that can give you this. Normally you have to carry at least two or three devices. This is true mobile computing."

The device goes beyond Windows legacy apps with a partnership with cloud computing kingpin Salesforce.com that puts the Salesforce1 mobile app on every Elite x3.

Calling the Elite x3 "the most powerful computational device that can fit in the palm of your hand," Hemani said the challenge for the channel will be making sure customers understand that the x3 is much more than a smartphone.

HP unveiled the Elite x3 on Sunday at the start of the Mobile World Congress, which is expected to attract 100,000 attendees in Barcelona, Spain. The Mobile World announcement is aimed at shining the spotlight on the "massive commercial opportunity" that the product brings to partners, said Park.

The Elite x3, based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor, looks like a smartphone, but when paired with a near-zero bezel 12.5-inch Mobile Extender lightweight display with keyboard, it becomes a full-function laptop. The product can also be paired with a Desk Dock that provides a desktop display port for a full desktop experience with an external monitor and several USB connections, along with a wired Ethernet connection. The Elite x3 product set even includes two new mobile printers: an OfficeJet 200 Mobile printer priced at $279 and an OfficeJet 250 Mobile All In One printer that will be available in the fall.

Partners said the x3 provides them the ability to break open the commercial mobility market with a product designed for businesses rather than consumer-centric offerings that have forced productivity workers to use more than just a smartphone.

Although the product will not be available until sometime this summer and has not yet been priced, it's already receiving plaudits from high-profile CEOs, including Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff and Tom Richards of CDW.

Nadella said the device heralds a new era in which "your experiences, content and data are mobile with you."

Benioff said the x3 opens the door for every company to "empower its users with the tools to run their businesses anytime, anywhere and on any device."

Richards, for his part, hailed the end-to-end thinking" that went into the product. "On its own, it's an impressive device, but the real breakthrough is the Elite x3 accessory ecosystem, which drives a seamless experience across computing platforms, and offers a solution beyond BYOD (bring your own device) and towards mobile workflow transformation," he said.

Westcoast, the UK-based distributor, is mounting a massive effort to bring the Elitex3 to customers with a pilot program featuring 50 mobile market leaders. "We are betting with our dollars to get seed units to large corporate customers," he said.

Hemani is betting that his company's aggressive bid to work hand in hand with customers on commercial applications for the Elite x3 will result in sales of as many as 250,000 to 350,000 units in 2017.

Kevin English, director of mobile at SHI International, the Somerset, N.J.-based solution provider behemoth that is No. 12 on CRN's 2015 Solution Provider 500 list, said HP Inc. has turned the "sluggish laptop market on its head" with a breakthrough, next-generation handheld device. "I am super excited about the product," he said. "It effectively turns a phone into a desktop experience. That is a first."

The Elite x3 holds all the processing power, negating the need for a laptop or a desktop device, said English. The accessories, including the 12.5-inch laptop-like add-on and the Desk Dock, effectively eliminates the need for a laptop or a desktop, he said.

The Elite x3 marks the first time SHI can bring legacy apps to a smartphone, said English. "Largely we have been left out of the phone business because it was so much of a carrier play," he said, noting that the Elite x3 is coming to market with long-term carrier contracts going by the wayside. "The unlocked phone is a huge opportunity. What we are focused on is the operating system, the imaging and deployment of these devices in large numbers. We are looking at how you manage applications on Windows 10 devices cross platform."

SHI is putting significant sales and marketing muscle around "educating customers" on the potential of the next generation of Windows computing in the form of the Elite x3, said English. "The apps are very important," he said. "The mobile apps through Continuum will be displayed as a desktop experience. The Win32 legacy applications is a big question: Is it a virtualization play or a retooling of Win32 apps to mobile apps? The verdict is still out on that. We are looking at all ways that customers will be thinking about this and we'll be ready to help them through the process whichever deployment method they choose."

The customer pain point around not being able to use legacy apps on a handheld device is "pretty significant," said English. "It's a huge untapped market," he said. "What you are fighting against is the status quo. It is about educating customers on the future. That is exciting for us."

HP Inc. has gone beyond the traditional consumer view of the handheld market, said English. "In a market where technology changes so quickly, it is refreshing to see HP take such a leap ahead of what is currently available in the marketplace," he said. "This is definitely a huge leap forward in a very saturated world of mobility products."

"I give HP credit," English said. "They are looking at things much more strategically since the split (of the company last year into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise). They have picked a hole in the current ecosystem of products and have filled that gap with this product."