Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) is holding negotiations with Chinese cellular operators China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd and China Telecom concerning the plan to offer mobile broadband-enabled mini-notebooks called Netbooks including their services, that are expected to help expand HP’s sales outlest in China.
HP has introduced several new products in Beijing recently which included a notebook computer, the HP Mini 110 series, which has weight of 2.5 pounds with price of US$299.
China as the world’s second-largest PC market by shipments has seen that demand is likely to rebound, as HP notebooks recorded the highest growth category of its China PC sales, although HP has remained cautious about the company’s outlook.
HP’s sales grew more rapidly in China druring the fiscal quarter that ended on April 30, than the local PC market as a whole. HP’s gains in China reflected an increase in market share to 13.7% in the first calendar quarter from 10.9% in the previous quarter.
HP has made an important advancement during the last two years, faster than Chinese PC manufacturers like Founder Electronics Co which is the second largest vendor in the country after Lenovo Group Ltd. Today HP has service centers in 425 cities of Chinese, higher than 325 at the end of the previous year.
The company has emphasized four new products, and following its HP Mini 110 the company has launched an all-in-one computer called the HP Pavilion MS200 that will be sold at price that ranges from US$599.
H-P also has emphasized low prices as commercial and consumer PC demand has slowed world-wide because of the weakened economy.
The company booked 17% profit decline in its second quarter on revenue of US$27.4 billion and expects revenue of its PC division to fall by 19%. It seems that there will be no improvement in the current quarter, and the company expects revenue to decline to 5% during that period.
Read also
[...] PC industry hopes the feature spurs sales, as PC makers like Hewlett-Packard and Dell have been clobbered during the recession as struggling businesses drop laptop computers [...]
[...] has introduced stylish and affordable notebook PCs and printers to help students and parents get ready for the next school year, which come in ultra-light, backpack-ready HP [...]