As it promised Windows 8 tablets, it also spoke of what assets it will focus on

Feb 4, 2012 18:21 GMT  ·  By

HP may have said that it is going to sell Windows 8 tablets, but it still has to somehow make its products stand out if it is to see any success.

It so happens that Meg Whitman, the company's CEO, does actually have a clear idea of where it means to make HP slates shine.

Simply put, she wants to focus on security, something that may be a very good idea considering the borderline hacking war going on.

Basically, though it is likely HP will show off a consumer slate at some point, it has real plans for the business and enterprise market too.

“I think our sweet spot has to be around security. This whole security thing is a big worry, not just for big enterprises but also for medium enterprises and small and medium businesses,” Whitman said when asked, by CRN, if HP can remain atop the global PC market without a tablet.

Storage devices, be they flash drives, hard drives (HDDs) or solid state drives (SSDs), sometimes offer their own data protection features, like AES encryption.

Such technologies are all well and good, and often used by corporations, but they aren't necessarily enough and also cost quite a bit.

HP wants to lead the charge for secure tablet offerings that small and medium businesses, as well as large enterprises, can use with no worries.

“If we can provide devices that consumers really want -- and by the way, employees are consumers, too -- and we can provide a tablet offering, then we have an opportunity to solve problems for the enterprise and small- and medium-business segments, with products that their employees like and are also secure in terms of protecting the enterprise's data,” said the CEO.

In the interview with CRN, Whitman also said HP wasn't turning into a software company and that it would like the whole tussle with Oracle to be resolved soon and without going to trials, if possible.