Hewlett Packard might look more dead than alive at the moment, with the lacklustre performance in the Android phone and tablet market and the slow death of their PC franchise, dropped as the largest vendor in place of Chinese company Lenovo.
As the ageing PC manufacturer moves to enterprise and other markets, it looks like they still want to keep their consumer face. The new smartwatch, developed with Menswear Designer of the Year winner Michael Bastian, will bring them into a new market.
Not much is known about the HP smartwatch, but details that it will work with iOS and Android make it extremely likely HP will use their own OS. This could be disastrous for HP, who will be competing against Apple’s iWatch and Android Wear.
HP has not had the best success with software, back in the day HP were hit hard due to poor PC accessory drivers and services. Palm OS, one of the most interesting mobile platforms in the mid-2000s, was crushed by HP’s poor software teams.
Developing their own smartwatch OS could be the first nail in the coffin for the smartwatch. Even if it offers the basic functionality, how is a company well known for lacklustre software going to compete with Apple and Google.
The design does look rather funky, Michael Bastian obviously knows what to do when it comes to the looks. The watch-face will be stainless steel with bolts, along with vents on the side and several choices when it comes to band colour.
We will have to wait and see if HP can actually deliver something worth checking out. All too often, HP have shown decent products before launch, only to be overshadowed by other products or not as great as showed in previews.
