HP's Digital Experience

Joe Wilcox | August 27, 2004, 11:55 AM

HP unleashed its annual torrent of new products. As I've said about last year's launch and, blogged, after the Consumer Electronics Show in January, HP often releases in bulk products that, if taken singly, would be Macworld showstoppers if unveiled by Apple. So, I find interesting there is an Apple-HP connection this year by way of iPod. Colleague Michael Gartenberg blogged on the HP iPod here.

More importantly, HP's marketing messaging is much stronger this year than last. While a commendable improvement, I worry that HP has released so many exciting products at once, some of the impact will be lost. The whole gamut of products can be found here.

Some worthy highlights--and there are too many products to cover:

* More cohesive, end-to-end digital photography/imaging products: HP is paying more attention to photo enhancements made in the camera and to final output from the printer. A new line of branded inks and paper anchors the new printer line launch. The branding is a smart way to generate greater consumer awareness around inks and paper and leverage HP's printer legacy. Besides, the real margin for any vendor is in the supplies, which HP has made more appealing.

* Extended focus on digital entertainment: Whether iPod, big-screen TVs or Media Center PCs, HP has staked out a place for the rapidly converging computer and consumer electronics markets. I am particularly impressed how HP has translated its legendary engineering attention to detail into consumer products. I've seen most of the products announced today--I know, there are so many--and see this engineering touch to mass-marketing quality throughout the line. What's missing, as it should be, the boring engineering mindset. HP is focusing its marketing on "experiences"--what I would call consumer usage profiles--that span different products.

* They're better together: The experiences really show why HP products are better together--and this should be a focus of every vendor selling multiple, adjacent products. The HP products fit quite well together, so that a HP Media Center PC is better together with a HP camera or printer. The printer is better with HP inks and paper. A Media Center PC is better with a HP monitor or TV. The better together approach is perhaps most interesting with iPod. Because of the Windows approach and extended service, HP is sending the message its iPod is better together with a Windows PC than Apple's, even though the products are essentially identical.