Tech Rumor of the Day: Hewlett-Packard
When a big player dips a little toe in a fast-growing new market, it can attract some attention.
The player, in this case is No. 1 PC maker
Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ) - Get Report
. And the new market is netbooks.
But the real attention-getter is that this particular move involves
Qualcomm's
(QCOM) - Get Report
Snapdragon chips.
Foxconn
is lining up to supply H-P with Snapdragon-powered smartbooks for later this year, says Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar.
When asked about the matter, a representative for H-P told
TheStreet.com
: "We don't comment on rumors or products that may or may not be under way."
|
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The move would mark a significant departure from the standard PC chip path. HP's PCs, laptops and even its netbooks have used either
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
or
AMD
(AMD) - Get Report
processors.
A switch, however small, by H-P to Snapdragon could be a major endorsement of Qualcomm's
.
"If I were Intel, I'd be trembling," says Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher, referring to the smartbook threat posed by Snapdragon.
So what's a smartbook, you might ask.
Qualcomm prefers the name smartbooks to netbooks because it conjures up a hybrid between smartphones and notebooks. Qualcomm has several manufacturers working with Snapdragon including
Acer
,
Asus
, Foxconn,
HTC
,
LG
,
Samsung
and
Toshiba
.
In another threat to the PC Wintel establishment, smartbooks use Linux operating systems and not
Microsoft's
(MSFT) - Get Report
Windows programs. The disadvantage is that users can't run common Microsoft programs like Word or Outlook. The advantage is that a Linux laptop has eight-hour battery life, instant-on power-up and an always-on 3G wireless data connection.
The move would also support the notion that Foxconn is helping another big player --
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Report
, presumably with Qualcomm's Snapdragon.
