14 DAY TRIAL // The beginning of this past month marked the launch of two new computer systems under the Voodoo PC brand. The desktop Voodoo Omen and the Voodoo Envy 133 notebook were officially released during HP's "Connecting Your World" event. Because of their unique features, these two products have been enjoying critical success, with lots of positive reviews coming out to support them since then. Sadly, this could actually be the last time we have the chance to talk about Voodoo-branded products as standalone systems.
This could happen as a consequence of the fact that HP's acquisition of VoodooPC has almost reached the final stage, which means that Voodoo-branded computer systems will be sold alongside HP's other products. According to a post on his own blog, Rahul Sood, HP's current Global Gaming Business CTO, notes "Yesterday was another big one: it's been announced internally that the Voodoo products are no longer going to be stand-alone entities, but rather they have been welcomed into the greater HP catalogue."
Rahul explains that this will actually benefit VoodooPC fans, which will be able to get the new Voodoo and Voodoo-influenced products much easier, because they will make full use of HP's marketing and sales channel from now on. He then notes that this was ultimately the initial goal behind the acquisition, to "transform cutting edge ideas and innovations from the high end Voodoo portfolio into various parts of HP's portfolio."
Ann Finnie, an HP spokeswoman, told PC World that "Voodoo's laptops and desktops will now be sold alongside HP's consumer Compaq Presario and Pavilion PC lines. It is just the next step of integration into the business units that deliver Compaq Presario and [HP] Pavilion." She also added that HP was likely to retain Voodoo as a brand name, although no final decision on that matter had been made yet.
HP is currently the leading computer systems vendor, with Dell following close behind. This being said, it will be interesting to see what Dell will do with its Alienware gaming brand to counteract HP's Voodoo.