The Indian home entertainment market is on the high-tide growth these days. Vendors taking this opportunity are positioning projectors and PCs for digital home entertainment and driving the market. Moving in the same direction, notebook vendors are also positioning the notebooks as part of the home entertainment devices. This, which used to be a business machine, but the vendors thought of punching more power into it so that the user can also run AV application, watch live streaming, play games like the Age of Empires, etc. They are customizing and localizing the notebooks to be more fancy looking in terms of design, colour, hardware, firmware, software, etc. Among the vendors who have taken the initiative, HP is the largest one. Not only has HP redefined the notebook usage but also the market, which has actually helped grow the market. Today, it is estimated by IDC that the volume of notebooks has touched one million in India. Out of this figure, nine per cent accounts for the entertainment notebooks, i.e. roughly 90,000.
HP today has several series in this category like HP Pavilion dv9000, HP Pavilion dv6100, HP Pavilion dv2000, HP Pavilion dv2100, etc. And, the company has recently launched a swivelling tablet series HP Pavilion tx1000 Entertainment Notebook PC series, which is said to be one of the best series at the price point of Rs.56,990. Though, with taxes, it might cost a little more, but, looking at the aesthetics, this is really a gizmo that every executive will love to carry.Â
Speaking to VARIndia, Rajiev Grover, Country Category Manager – Consumer Portables, HP PSG India, says that the newly-launched Pavilion tx1000 series is an exciting notebooks series that delights the executives while on the move or at workplace. He never gets bugged down because of the pressure at the workplace. The basic feature is that it can be turned into a TV, as HP provides a TV Tuner card along with it. And, it has also a remote control so that the user can launch music, video or photos without booting up the PC. The notebook comes with HP QuickPlay 3.0 software for this purpose. In addition, it has an in-built 1.3 megapixel webcam and an omni-directional microphone for videoconference and chatting with friends. Starting with the 12.1" touch screen, one can enjoy multiple viewing angles.
According to Rajiev, this notebook comes with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition and HP LightScribe technology. With HP LightScribe technology, the user really can personalise the video or audio CDs after burning the CDs or DVDs. It is powerful because the machine carries AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core mobile processor, NVIDIA graphics, 160 GB hard drive and 2GB SDRAM memory module.Â
Secondly, since the notebook can be swivelled till 1800, one can take quick note of the discussion in the office or in the classroom. This product is very lightweight and ideal for young professionals and entrepreneurs, who have frequent meetings and presentations with clients. It is also ideal for the students’ community, but the price point, nearly Rs.60k, can act as a deterrent. The series has a touch screen feature and a stylus comes along with it for convenience of the users. More than anything, it has fingertip reader so that an unauthorized access can really be checked and at the same time makes it hassle free at the time of booting in terms of the requirement of multiple passwords for authentications.Â
Rajiev adds, “With this launch, HP has now a comprehensive range of entertainment notebook PCs within the consumer range of notebooks and in order to position it among the home users or the students, the company is launching EMI and insurance schemes. Besides, HP has, from time to time, programmes for the channel partners as well.”
HP has already launched focussed channel partner programme, under which select PSG partners are given product training, orientation, market trends, sales training, etc., and, according to Rajiev, it will be the sub-distributors with whom the company might increase the engagement level. Secondly, the company will focus more on the retail front. Today, the company has 1,300–1,400 and out of this 150 are HP Worlds. Apart from the HP PSG channel partners, these entertainment notebook PCs are available in these retail outlets.Â
To delve deep into the HP offering, HP Pavilion dv9000 is a large 17” screen Entertainment Notebook PC series, which enables desktop class performance powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processor. It starts from Rs.94,990 plus taxes.Â
Similarly, starting from Rs.58,990 plus taxes, HP Pavilion dv6100 Entertainment Notebook PC series comes with Intel Core 2 Duo processor, optional HP BrightView technology and the 15.4-inch screen. The HP Pavilion dv2000 Entertainment Notebook PC series costing around Rs.53,990 plus taxes is a versatile PC series with powerful mobile technology blended with entertainment mechanism. In this series, HP Pavilion dv2100 Entertainment Notebook PC series costs Rs.56,990 plus taxes.Â
According to Rajiev,”“HP has nearly 40 per cent share in the notebook market and consumer notebook contributes substantially. But the plan of the company is to grow the entire business by creating new market segments and strengthening its position in the class B and C cities.”
Finally…Â
As the mobile convergence is happening rapidly in India, HP’s strategy for tx1000 series or, for that matter, the entire range of entertainment notebook PCs seems to be on the right track.
