Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker has been on the job for four months, but has high long-term ambitions for the computer maker: to steal Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) "cool" factor.
"I hope one day people will say 'this is as cool as HP,' not 'as cool as Apple,'" Apotheker told the BBC. He said HP will try to deliver unique, sleek and intuitive products--things that Apple, under CEO Steve Jobs, has become known for.
HP will get its first test on Feb. 9 when it is expected to unveil at least one tablet product running Palm's webOS platform. Apotheker revealed that the new product line will get a new name and fall under the HP brand, an indication that the Palm brand could be discontinued.
In an interview on CNBC, Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group, strongly hinted that the company will unveil its new tablet at an event the company is hosting Feb. 9 in San Francisco, and that the tablet will be a part of the webOS ecosystem.
"We think of this broadly as, the tablet is one piece of that ecosystem, one piece of that connected experience that we're going to create," he said. Bradley added that the announcement will showcase "the future of webOS and the breadth of products it will effect, that it will enable."
For more:
- see this BBC article
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