14 DAY TRIAL // Building certain computing products fitted to the specific needs of a local market is not exactly a good idea unless said market is, in fact, quite a huge one, and for this reason, HP's decision to build a tabletop computing system designed specifically for the Indian seems like a very good business opportunity for the computer manufacturer. The device in question is called the HP DreamScreen400 and, according to the company, has been “developed in India, for India”, delivering the full reach of the internet and access to localized content and services to all members of a family. To develop the HP DreamScreen from concept to final product, team members from the HP Innovation Program Office visited scores of Indian families in their homes, the primary objective being to create a customer experience that would be intuitive to people familiar with basic cell phones. It needed to offer people convenient alternatives to the travel and long lines that are commonplace in India for paying bills and purchasing train tickets, for example. “We sat with people in their homes and really listened to what was important to them. They inspired us,” said Phil McKinney, head of the Innovation Program Office and vice president and chief technology officer, Personal Systems Group, HP. “To serve kids, their parents and their grandparents sharing a household – sharing one device – that was our goal.” The result is quite an interesting one, the HP DreamScreen400 being equipped with an 18.5-inch diagonal touchscreen display, a DVD optical drive, and being powered by innovative technology from Intel. Thanks to an intuitive user interface, information ranging from school curricula to Bollywood TV and music is instantly accessible – in English or Hindi. Moreover, video calls can be initiated by tapping an onscreen number keypad or touching a photo while real-time religious services are brought into the home from webcams stationed in faraway temples. The HP DreamScreen40 will be available in India later this month at Rs. 19,999 plus taxes, or about US$450, and we're actually quite glad to learn that the concept and business model of the HP DreamScreen400 is applicable to other countries and regions, so it's likely that it will make its way towards other parts of the world as well.
hot right now