Simply Another Blog: The HP Mobile Innovations Tour

The HP Mobile Innovations Tour
by Bharti Adhikari, April 24, 2007

Hewlett-Packard (HP) today showcased a number of innovations revolving around the future of mobile communication in the country.

"HP Mobile Innovations Tour" was focused on the conceptual creations that represent a vision for the 2012 timeframe, where devices will be function-specific and will provide an 'always connected' experience.
With the new innovations, the company is creating and enabling experiences that allow users easy access to information and content when and where they want it, on simple devices.

According to Phil Devlin, Manager of Product Marketing, Mobile Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP Asia-Pacific and Japan, "HP's vision of the future of mobility is a world where simple devices inter-operate to deliver a cohesive, 'always connected' lifestyle. Anyone can make the simple complicated - true creativity lies in making the complicated simple."

The gadgets showcased at the "HP Mobile Innovations Tour" include a personal wireless gateway device - in a wearable watch-like form factor; a flexible, portable, personal size display mat; and a thin-client device in a tablet form factor.

The watch wireless gateway acts as the central hub containing the access technologies/radios to enable an 'always connected' experience. It can connect to various devices, including phones, PCs, laptops, etc.

The flexible, portable, personal size display mat is 'always on' and ready to connect to the wireless hub/watch. A larger mat can be used to access services such as games or content better suited for a larger display.

The thin-client device in a tablet form factor is capable of taking on the personality of the user, based on 'personal wireless gateway' information. It's a trend towards Web-based solutions to move content or applications to Internet, shifting devices away from traditional memory-based architecture. The devices resulting from this will be thinner and lighter with longer battery life.

Apart from these, the other innovations showcased include: a digital wallet that displays up-to-the-moment transactions for a wide variety of personal services such as checking credit cards, etc; a pen with multiple options for input; a smart shelf that allows display of information, and serves as a charger for the wireless gateway/watch etc; and a coffee table which when loaded with thin clients turns into a larger display that can be used for collaboration, and also acts as charger base for the device.

With laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, and digital cameras continuing to add more features, options, and wireless technologies, the current mobile environment is getting increasingly complex, and is a key strategic growth segment globally, and in Asia Pacific.

IDC forecasts that the APEJ mobile worker population will increase to 582.5 million or 31.1 percent of the workforce by 2009.