Leading Information Technology provider, HP has announced that it is re-inventing and expanding its global supplies portfolio to deliver more customer choice, greater value and a dramatically simplified shipping experience. This, according to it, is a major change in the way its supplies will be offered to consumers globally.

In line with the new development, HP will provide a greater variety of print cartridge at new price point options and in new colour-coded packaging for easier selection in store and online, citing detailed research into customer requirements as reasons for the introduction of the new products.

The company said it came to the conclusions that customers want more control over their ink cartridge purchases, and that when it comes to meeting their printing needs, 'one size does not fit all'.

Jovita Agwu, Channel Development Manager, Supplies, HP West Africa observed at the launch of the new products in Lagos, “At HP, we are always looking for new ways to reach out to our many different customers across the globe. The introduction of the HP simple black inkjet print cartridges is one way we are able to meet the needs of our West African customers. We are blessed to be able to continue to offer outstanding service and important more choice.”

Agwu noted that the company spends about US$1 billion annually on the research and development of HP imaging and printing products, resulting in over 12, 000 patents worldwide and of these, over 4, 000 patents are in supplies.

In a simultaneous announcement, HP further increased customer choice with the release of simple black inkjet print cartridges, which recognize the specialised need of a geographical subset of consumers for whom cost of purchase comes above all other considerations, yet who are loathe to part with the reliable, hassle-free experience original HP are known for.

The Channels Development Manager observed that HP puts in an average of 12, 000 engineers and scientists hours into each ink refinement, using 22, 000 litres of ink in testing and optimising all in a bid to scale up ink formation.

The HP 56b, HP 27b and HP 21b simple black inkjet print cartridges deliver on HP's promise of reliable performance, but at a price point and quality level to suit the needs of these customers: the cartridges are intended for draft quality, adequate printing, such as printing out emails or online transactions receipts. They are the ideal choice for customers who may have been disappointed with the reliability of third party alternatives in the past.

For more important printing projects, where quality is key, the standard HP 56, HP 27, and HP 21 black inkjet print cartridge is the relevant choice to use. They will be available only in emerging Asian markets of Latin America, Russia, parts of Eastern Europe, Turkey, Egypt Morocco, Nigeria, as selected by detailed market analysis and customer needs.

Customers who tend to print more frequently in higher volumes and who are therefore most concerned with lower ongoing operating costs and intervention rates can purchase HP value print cartridges with HP vivera inks which provide savings of up to 55 per cent.

Advanced ink technology in the new HP specialty print cartridges will enhance printer performance, offering best value and results for more specialised printing needs, such as home photo printing and other special projects. For example, 6- and 8- ink photo inkjet cartridges are ideal for photo printing, leading to a wider colour gamut, richer and more realistic skin tones and grey and improved blacks.

The significant shift in strategy signals an extension of HP's commitment to providing customers with a choice of supplies to meet their printing needs, and is a testament to its continuous focus on improving its customers overall printing experience.

During its more than 20 years at the forefront of the printing industry, HP has developed a broad portfolio of printers that address a huge variance of customer printing needs and, during that period, customers were able to select the printer that meets their printing needs.

Leading world providers of technology, products, solutions and services to consumers and the corporate organizations, Hewlett Packard (HP), has introduced new machines to help improve the quality of virtualization within organizations.

Virtualization which is a framework or methodology of dividing the resources of a computer into multiple execution environments by applying one or more concepts of technologies such as hardware and software partitioning, time sharing, partial or complete machine simulation, emulation, quality of service and many others has grown to be top of mind for most organization's information officers.

Presenting the HP latest innovation, ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade to a cross section of Nigerian journalists, the company's Enterprise Server Manager, Chuks Okpaka stated that the HP's newest introduction is built to eliminate bottlenecks to virtual server performance.

consumer demand further”, said Karine Paoli, associate vice president for IDC's EMEA Personal Computing research.

“Mini notebooks saw a surge during the back-to-school season with IDC estimating over 2 million units shipped in EMEA in 3Q08”, said Eszter Morvay, senior research analyst for IDC's EMEA PC tracker. “Although the retail channel remained the primary route-to-market to reach consumers, mini notebook volumes were further boosted by the rising number of telco deals across several countries, enticing customers with free laptops bundled with mobile broadband, benefiting Asus and Acer in particular.

Whilst the retail shelves were dominated by Asus in the first half of the year, the competition heated up over the summer months with Acer deploying strong push across the region. The appealing product design coupled with the right price point earned Asus and Acer a combined market share of over 80% in this rapidly expanding market.

Mini notebooks are clearly shaking up the competitive landscape, which is likely to get even more fierce in the pre-Christmas season with several vendors launching products from October, and potentially pushing mini notebooks volumes in EMEA towards the 4 million range in 4Q08”, she added.

“While the financial crisis that hit Europe in October may lead to intensifying economic pressure over the coming months and slowing business investment trends, the development expected of the new 'Mini Notebook' segment could well balance the impact of any potential downturn and maintain buoyancy in the EMEA PC market in 2009, at least in unit terms.

“Continued price erosion and potential currency fluctuations will however add pressure in revenue and profit terms for several vendors.” added Karine Paoli.

This quarter marked significant change in the top vendor ranking in EMEA with Acer taking the No 1 spot in EMEA while Asus stepped further up to 4th place in the overall ranking.

Acer made an explosive entry in the mini notebook market, which, combined with continued growth of its mainstream notebooks as well as desktops, propelled the Taiwanese vendor to 1st place in the overall EMEA PC market ranking for the first time.

Acer deployed a massive push of its Aspire One across both the retail and telco channels, which contributed to soaring volumes, further strengthening its position in the notebook market. The vendor also continued to gain share in the desktop space, benefiting from the exit of local players from the Western European desktop market.