HP CEO: No Plans of Unveiling a Smartphone in 2013

In mid-September, HP was rumored to be working on a smartphone moving ahead from the PC arena. A report from Fox News Business claimed the new CEO of HP, Meg Whitman claiming that the company will be entering the smartphone market in several countries with its first computing device.

Also, a GLBenchmark test picture leaked by SlashGear added more fuel to this rumor claiming that it is the result of a HP smartphone codenamed Bender with Android 4.0.4 ICS, dual core, 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor and a HD display with 1366 x 720 pixel resolution.

However, on Thursday, Whitman made a comment, which has created stirs in the earlier reports suggesting an Android smartphone from HP in 2013.

According to a report by ComputerWorldUK, Whitman said that "We don't have any plans to introduce a smartphone in 2013, but we've got to start thinking about what is our unique play, how do we capture this element of the personal computing market? I believe that five years from now, if we don't have a smartphone or whatever the next generation of that device is, we'll be locked out of a huge segment of the population in many countries of the world.”

She added that "The consumer market, I would argue, is quite well-served by the tablet in the marketplace today from Apple. But every CIO I talk to wants to have a Windows device, backward compatibility, the ability to control those devices from a security perspective."

It is to be noted that Todd Bradley, who runs HP's Printing and Personal Systems Group, said that HP expects tablet sales to businesses to grow at three times the rate of sales to consumers.