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H-P Will Consider Offering Free Internet Access in Europe
London, June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's top maker of printers, said it will consider offering free Internet access along with its personal computers sold in Europe, in a move to reverse sliding sales of its PCs in the world's fastest growing PC market last year.
H-P, which fell off the list of the top five PC sellers in Europe in the first quarter of this year, is seeking ways to increase sales of its PCs through retail stores and through its European Web site set up last month.
PC makers are looking for ways to increase sales, which fell 4 percent last year to $148 billion worldwide because of price cuts. While European PC shipments grew about 20 percent in the first quarter of this year, they were still 2 percentage points less than that in the previous year. Dell Computer Corp., the No. 1 direct PC seller, recently said it will offer free Internet access across Europe to help sell more PCs.
''We'll offer it as well if we think it will stimulate demand,'' said Duane Zitzner, president and CEO of H-P's computer products unit, in an interview. The division generates about 40 percent of its revenue in Europe.
H-P slipped to the sixth spot among PC makers in Europe in the first quarter. Its market share shrunk 1.5 percentage points to 5.9 percent.
A free Internet offering by H-P will be in line with the company's efforts to be a bigger supplier of computers and other equipment related to the Internet. It will also sell new products that provide customers with the ability to send materials over the Internet to a printer.
Internet access packaged with PCs helped push sales in Europe in the first quarter, according to Marie-Christine Pygott, senior research analyst at Context Computer Information Services, a London-based market research company.
Palo Alto, California-based H-P shares rose as much as 11/16, or 0.74 percent, to 93 3/8.
Jun/10/1999 11:23 |
