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Source www.microscope.co.uk
By Paul Kunert
Microscope
16-02-04
Until recently, the US giant sold the standard D530 corporate PC into the retail point of sale (POS) space, which users then customised, but HP believed its bespoke RP5000 would better suit the sector.
"The retail market [has mostly sourced] white boxes assembled locally because they offered more flexibility," said Dominic Webb, HP commercial desktop category manager.
He added that HP had looked at the requirements of the sector and designed a small footprint desktop product that offered four serial and USB ports, all of which are powered.
The POS market accounts for one per cent of HP’s PC sales in the UK, but the vendor is seeking to grow that fivefold.
Webb said there were resellers selling white box systems to the retail sector, but argued that HP had a product that was applicable to large and small implementations and could offer the backing of a "tier-one brand and a difference in quality of product and support".
But white box players were not phased by the threat from HP. Gordon Davies, commercial director at Compusys, insisted HP had missed the point that it was services, not hardware, that was the key.
"A local builder will answer a customer call, be on-site within a couple of hours, and have the problem fixed in three. I understand what HP is saying, but it’s not about format, it’s about service," he said. |