Hewlett-Packard gears up for Gitex; launches 3 new devices

Hewlett-Packard unveiled three new products in Dubai on Monday as part of a lead-up to its “interesting and exciting” participation in next week’s Gitex Shopper Spring Edition.

The Palo Alto, California-based technology bellwether announced the introduction of the HP Slate VoiceTab into the Middle East

Mathew Thomas speaking at HP’s Press conference in Dubai on Monday. — Supplied photo

market; the newest addition to HP’s DeskJet Ink Advantage printers, the 4645 all-in-one; and the HP Pavilion x360 convertible PC.

Mathew Thomas, PPS general manager at HP Middle East, is confident that HP’s momentum in the January-to-March period this year — which he described as “much better than expected” — will spill over at Gitex and further beyond.

“Traditionally, especially in the laptop and notebook segments, market acceptance [of HP] is good because consumers expect that HP will bring good products,” he told Khaleej Times during the Press conference.

“We are confident of market acceptance because these are from HP and they have very interesting prices — this is the exciting part.”

Adding on to HP’s business performance in the first quarter of 2014 — which he pegged in the double-digit growth range — he said: “The first three months has been good; we’ve had interesting growth… and all countries in the [Middle East] region have contributed to this growth.”

The six-inch HP Slate VoiceTab, which falls into the so-called phablet category, is powered by quad-core processor, runs on the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system and has a dual-SIM feature.

The HP Ink Advantage 4645 all-in-one printer offers high-quality low-cost printing for home and office environments with wireless e-all-in-one capabilities.

The flexible HP Pavilion x360 portable PC easily converts from a notebook to a tablet with its 360-degree hinge and will best serve users from the classroom to being on-the-go.

The new products are priced at Dh1,099, Dh455 and Dh1,799, respectively. For the Slate VoiceTab, HP has partnered with Sharaf DG in which the device will be exclusively available at the retailer from April 17. The 4645 all-in-one printer is now out in stores, while the Pavilion x360 will be made available for Gitex.

HP’s new devices will be a highlight for its participation at next week’s Gitex, where Thomas says the company seeks to be more competitive. “Overall, there is a good mood in Dubai, and at Gitex we see the offtake of our products,” he said.