HP unveils proddable one-piece

COMPUTER GIANT HP has just launched its newest generation of all-in-one touch screen PCs, which it claims are priced competitively enough for the lowly plebs of the wider, non-niche market to get their grubby paws on them.

The TouchSmart All-in-One apparently lets users access and use the Internet, music, video, photos, and even television by prodding away at their screens with their clammy fingers, all for about $1,299, which, granted, is more expensive than the Macbook Air, but on the other hand, Apple's offering doesn't have a touchscreen.

Announcing the launch in Berlin today, HP’s executive vice president, Todd Bradley, reckoned that the firm’s 17 new notebooks would not only set the trend, but actually create their very own touchy feely market. “We think about it as a global product that will inspire demand and drive desirability," he gushed.

The timing of HP’s announcement is both telling and opportune, coming just a day after Apple’s fervently-awaited unveiling of its new, almost messianically-anticipated Iphone. But HP’s new, ultra-thin touch screens aren’t just a threat to the fruit-themed toymaker, the general feeling is that quite a few notebook makers are probably swallowing nervously after HP’s announcement today.

The Wall Street Journal quotes Vickram Bedi, HP’s product manager in charge of the TouchSmart, as saying that since last year, when the ‘hands-on’ computer was introduced as “a novelty product”, its sales have beaten all expectations. This led HP to focus more effort in slimming the all-inclusive machines down and developing new and improved software for them, which the company reckons makes them much more appealing as TV sets, messageboards and computers.

HP noted that the new TouchSmarts would be launched across 17 countries, including the US, the UK, India, China and Japan, by July. µ

L’Inq
Wall Street Journal