HP's route to the top

The depth of our product range is what has propelled us to the top,” says Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President, Personal Systems Group (PSG), Hewlett-Packard (HP). The computer maker, which half a decade ago was in the doldrums, losing market share to more nimble competitors, got its act together by making computers “relevant” to people again. “Our competitors started to treat the computer as a commodity; we realised that people wanted more from their devices and they crucially also wanted their devices to represent them,” says Bradley. HP started using the slogan “The Computer is Personal Again” when it came to marketing, using self-made ads by celebrities such as Serena Williams, Petra Nemcova and Jean-Michel Gondry, even though HP did not pay these people for these ads.

What helped HP, according to Bradley, is the fact that it has design centres across the world, including one in Bangalore. “In fact, our Chinese design centre has allowed us to develop products specifically for the Chinese market, where we have gone from virtually nowhere to become a strong #2 (Lenovo is the market leader in its home market),” he says, adding: “We are a strong player in each of the 170-odd markets we are present in across the world.”

In India, where HP along with its sister brand Compaq is a market leader, Bradley believes that there is going to be a significant uptake of computing devices.

“India is a crucial market and while consumers still have a way to go, recent signs are positive and I believe there will be significant growth in India,” he says. In India, though, HP may have to make the computer even more personal.

—Kushan Mitra