Hewlett-Packard is hoping to make a big bang Monday when it introduces new consumer gear amid what analysts say continues to be a tough market for the technology giant.
As first reported by CNET News.com, HP will publicly unveil in New York City a "Radically Simple, Better Together" strategy that has been brewing for months. The company has been working to better tie together its diverse portfolio of tech gadgets such as cameras, printers and PCs. The product push, which HP says amounts to more than 100 new products and is its biggest consumer launch ever, has been dubbed "Big Bang 2," the follow-up to last year"s complete overhaul of the consumer-printer lineup. The company is expected to unveil a number of new printers, cameras and notebook computers, as well as gadgets such as a device for converting VHS home movies to DVDs.
HP has been exploring a number of ways it can create better connections between its products, from adopting common user interfaces to developing software to standardizing its notebooks and cameras on Secure Digital memory cards. For the event, HP is building out a loft in midtown Manhattan that it will use to show off the company"s new technologies. CEO Carly Fiorina is set to kick off the event with a speech at 9 a.m. ET.
HP"s effort comes after a number of analysts this week lowered their expectations for the company. Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney on Thursday both cut their quarterly earnings estimates for HP, which is set to report its earnings Aug. 19. "Our sense is that (HP"s third quarter) has been no walk in the park, primarily due to economic weakness in Europe," Salomon Smith Barney analyst Richard Gardner wrote in a research note Thursday. Gardner trimmed his earnings estimate for the quarter to 26 cents per share, down a penny from his earlier prediction.