HP's PC chief calls Surface "kludgey"

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 15 Nov 2012 at 15:42

The head of HP’s computing division has launched a scathing attack on Microsoft’s Surface tablet, claiming it poses no competition for his company.

HP recently unveiled its own ElitePad business tablet, despite shelving the consumer TouchPad only months after launch last year as the company went through a period of upheaval. Todd Bradley, the head of HP's PC business, does not view Microsoft's Surface tablet as a challenge.

"I'd hardly call Surface competition," Bradley said in an interview on IDG’s Citeworld. "One, very limited distribution. It tends to be slow and a little kludgey as you use it and it's expensive. Holistically, the press has made a bigger deal out of Surface than what the world has chosen to believe."

Holistically, the press has made a bigger deal out of Surface than what the world has chosen to believe

According to Bradley, HP has no intention of launching a consumer tablet this year because the company is unsure about the viability of a market already brimming with competing devices.

"We're not entering the consumer tablet fray any time soon. We'll be doing something next year, but you won't see a consumer tablet from HP before Christmas.

"Whether we go into tablets – there's a whole litany of ARM-based Android, ARM-based Microsoft, there's quite a grid. We'll be judicious about how we deploy against application availability in the enterprise, consumerisation, and price points."

According to Bradley, the company is also still trying to convince its enterprise customers that it is serious about making PCs, which the company considered ditching during the turbulent reign of Leo Apotheker.