Hewlett-Packard Working on Consumer Smartphone

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is again rumoured to be planning to release a consumer smartphone for sale initially in Europe. The Wall Street Journal, citing people briefed on the plan said that the company is talking to operators to resell the handset for it.

The smartphone is expected to be Windows Mobile based and operate via a touch-screen interface. The new phone will likely be released in Europe within the next two months, say people familiar with the matter. It will later be released world-wide.

The company already has a range of corporat iPaq branded smartphones. H-P spokesman Mike Hockey commented that "the iPaq brand is extremely strong around the world, especially in the European market."

Taiwan's Quanta Computer is a major supplier of PDAs to HP, and has been previously rumoured to have been working on a smartphone for HP's rival computer firm, Dell.

On the web: Wall Street Journal

Posted to the site on 3rd October 2008