'Dot-com Compaq' debuts
iPaq Internet appliance
By Lisa DiCarlo, PC Week Online, and Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt
Reseller
November 10, 1999 5:30 PM ET
NEW YORK -- Compaq Computer Corp. today
announced a $499 Internet-centric PC for business
users called iPaq and provided a clearer picture of its
role in the Internet economy.
More important than the new form-factor PC, though, is
Compaq's acknowledgement that there is an immediate
need to make PCs and Internet appliances easier to
use.
"The kinds of things we used to build -- things that
attached to the corporate network -- are changing,"
President and CEO Michael Capellas told press and
financial analysts attending the iPaq launch here.
"There is a growing need for simple, task-specific
devices. There is no question we will see the
transformation from PC to Internet appliances happen
quickly. We are building products with the Internet first
in mind."
As such, some iPaq systems will not include
problematic ISA slots or legacy ports that can cause
conflicts with the Windows OS and applications.
IBM, Hewlett-Packard Co. and other PC makers will
also eliminate these components over the coming year.
The move is driven largely by Microsoft Corp. and Intel
Corp., whose annual PC design guidelines mandate the
elimination of these devices in 2000.
Capellas also said that the lines between Internet use
at home and work are blurring. Thus, the need for
completely distinct products and services is
evaporating.
New destination portal
To drive home that point, the company also announced
a forthcoming "destination portal" that will aggregate
Web sites and services into "communities of interest"
for users.
Compaq is working with Microsoft to supply underlying
framework technology and some MSN content for its
various portals, according to Senior Vice President
Mike Winkler.
Rick Belluzzo, Microsoft's recently appointed vice
president of its consumer and commerce group, was on
hand at the launch but offered few specifics on
Microsoft's role as a portal partner to Compaq.
The first incarnation of the destination portal will be for
IT personnel and will include technology news,
benchmarks, reviews and consolidated access to items
such as software drivers and patches. Subsets of these
will include human resources, sales and marketing, and
procurement.
For consumers, the portal might include information on
travel, stocks or hobbies.
Inside iPaq
The iPaq, which some have already criticized as
sounding too much like Apple Computer Inc.'s iMac,
comes with a 500MHz Celeron or Pentium III processor,
64MB of SDRAM (upgradable to 512MB), integrated
Ethernet, and a MuliBay into which users can insert a
DVD drive, CD ROM, LS-120 or a second hard drive.
The systems are scheduled to be widely available in
mid-January. Capellas said he expects systems like
these to account for between 50 percent and 60 percent
of sales in the next three years.
The Houston company will pare down its desktop
brands next year, quite possibly around the new iPaq.
There are currently four brands.
"We will significantly simplify our line. There is too
much brand proliferation," Winkler said.
Work to do
Organizationally, Compaq still has a long way to go
before reducing headcount by 7,000, a stated goal. A
spokesman said the company has lain off only about 10
percent of that number, with cuts coming across the
board.
Winkler said Compaq is basically out of the woods
financially -- it recorded a profit last quarter after a
previous loss -- but said it still has a ways to go in
getting customers to think of Compaq as a fleet-footed
"The biggest positive change has been Michael
[Capellas] himself. People expected a marquee name
[to be appointed CEO] and he wasn't it, but he's so
good with customers and been such a boost to the
company," Winkler said. "We had an aloof [and]
bureaucratic executive staff in some ways, but we are
on the comeback trail." |
