RSSHP to Depart Digital Camera Market
By Tim Conneally | Published November 8, 2007, 2:51 PM
Three years ago, Hewlett-Packard announced it would revamp its digital camera lineup and invest $1 billion in research and development over 18 months to become a leading vendor. In a stunning about-face today, HP announced that it is now seeking an outside OEM to design and distribute HP branded digital cameras.
The company will continue to sell its own models through the holiday season, and then cease in the first half of 2008, when a partnership is intended to be in place. The company that will take over production has not yet been determined.
HP's reinvestment effort ironically only seemed to shrink its brand presence in digital cameras, after having been ranked #3 in sales in the US in 2001 by Infotrends/CAP. Today, HP is ranked #8 in the US with a meager 4% market share.
So the company is shifting its focus now toward its so-called Print 2.0 strategy,announced in May 2007. Falling in line with HP's strength in printing, and the current lack of Web-based printing technology, the Print 2.0 platform is seen by the company as a nearly $300 billion opportunity.
HP is already in development with ViaMichelin to improve printing of online maps and directions, as well as with SixApart, to integrate print functions into the popular Moveable Type blogging platform.
you know...people may think im crazy but i really like HP cameras. i was a long time olympus fan but i really enjoyed the hp design and features. We just ordered a R847 for my girlfriends grandma for christmas for ease of use.
This is really a shame.
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|my cousin lost his hp camera drivers once and they charged him 40 dollars for a driver cd for a driver they wouldnt allow for download. that was about the end of the straw for us with hp, so yea, i think you're crazy
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|I have never failed yet to download drivers for hardware without disks. $40 for a cd ?? I think you're cousin is crazy.
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|I'm guessing you did not try to locate the free download from Driverguide.com
Once your registered, just click on the vendor or type of product and choose the download. This has come in great help for Nvidia and Wintv products.
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|yeah, i gotta fault your cousin there. You can find any driver online if you try. HP is actually really good on their www for getting drivers too.
If he paid for $40.00 a driver CD, hes the sad one, not HP.
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|A few of their all-in-one printers don't offer all the software that comes with it for download. They have basic print drivers, but not the scanning and faxing pieces. More and more I think HP is selling crap so you have to buy a new printer more often. I still have an HP 5si that's ~10 years old and working great, but my HP 4000's died after ~3 years (and they required a lot more repairs in those 3yrs).
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|Thank god.
HP has got to be the worst when it comes to cameras. I still remember years ago they had a problem with there cameras and there work around was to place it on a stable surface and then take the picture
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|they have really improved. they pioneered the in camera red eye fix and now have implemented pet eye fix which is really nice and unique. I realy enjoy these cameras.
im an ex-compusa salesman that used to sell cameras so I got to use every make/model.
HP was the best bang for the buck, olympus was best overall and to an extent Sonys were good.
Overall I like the HP for using SD cards and being well priced where as I hate memory card and xD.
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