In an effort to increase PC sales, HP will focus on touchscreen technology. The company is developing a notebook with touchscreen that will debut before end of 2008, according to Wall Street Journal. Early this year, it was reported that HP plans to launch touchscreen-enabled notebook within next 18 months. The source familiar with the plans now says that it will be sooner.
The upcoming touchscreen laptop will include special HP software called TouchSmart, which the company developed with the help of design firm Frog Design. Phil McKinney is looking over HP’s touchscreen effort and he has been working on PC software that masks Microsoft’s Windows operating system. HP began using touchscreens last year in their TouchSmart desktops, company introduced a revamped TouchSmart desktop this year.
HP believes that the touchscreen laptops and desktops with TouchSmart technology will help it differentiate itself from rivals such as Dell. People familiar with HP’s touchscreen effort said that HP will bring the touchscreen to its consumer cellphone line also and they plan to start selling touchscreen cellphones within next one year.