HP To Quit Making Digital Cameras, Focus On Print 2.0 (TechWeb)
By Antone GonsalvesInformationWeek Wed Nov 7, 7:01 PM ET
Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday said it would stop making its own line of digital cameras in order to shift more resources toward its printing business.
While HP plans to continue selling cameras under its brand, it is looking for a manufacturer to license the design, build the devices and distribute them, the company said in a statement. HP will continue selling its own cameras through the holiday season, but intends to partner with a manufacturer in the first half of next year.
The move is to shift more resources to what HP calls its Print 2.0 initiative, which the company unveiled in May at its Imaging and Printing Conference in New York. The strategy is heavily focused on leveraging Web-based services in trying to capture a significant share of the growing number of digital pages printed each year. According to HP, 53 trillion digital pages are forecast to be printed in 2010, creating a market valued at more than $296 billion.
Analysts have said that HP wants to change its image from a printer company to a printing company that leverages the Web in giving consumers and businesses the services needed to design and build their own materials, from marketing brochures to wedding albums, and then print the content themselves or through a network of professional printers. HP is also launching online communities where people and businesses can collaborate on projects and share ideas.
In August, the company launched a $300 million marketing campaign to help drive its strategy of leveraging Web-based printing services to get people to print more with HP hardware.
As a result of its plans to get out of the camera manufacturing business, HP will take a pre-tax charge of about $30 million in the fourth fiscal quarter ending Oct. 31.