Will HP’s DreamScreen Be A Marketing Nightmare?

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HP DreamScreenLast week technology product review sites and blogs were all a-buzz about Hewlett Packard’s latest product release… the HP DreamScreen.  Because so much was being said I found myself enticed to read more and more. But the more I read the more I noticed a pattern develop. I noticed that many “industry experts” were confused and unsure as to what the DreamScreen is or is not supposed to be.

Below are 16 quotes from various technology gurus and geeks who grappled with their own understanding on just how to best describe what  the HP DreamScreen is and/or is not. As you read through these quotes note that what they have to say about the DreamScreen is quite varied, perplexing and at times contradictory. Regardless, I am pretty sure this is NOT the industry buzz HP wanted.

  • CNET ASIA-Crave “There are products which simply defy categorization.”
  • Tech News World “DreamScreen …is it some sort of hobbled tablet netbook, or is it a pumped-up digital photo frame?”
  • Business  Week “HP turns the digital photo frame into an electronic social calendar.“
  • Mashable “HP’s new DreamScreen Tablet is some type of hybrid between a computer, a digital photo frame, and a music player. “
  • Coolest Gadgets “In the case of the HP DreamScreen, it might not be fair to call it a digital photo frame.”
  • Venture Beat “It’s a category of computer that is suitable for casual use by broader, mainstream audiences who might use it while browsing TV.”
  • Geek.com “HP’s DreamScreen wants to be the iPod of digital photo frames.”
  • Yahoo Tech “Depending on how you look at it, the sleek new DreamScreen is either a very powerful digital photo frame or a fairly limited Internet tablet—take your pick.”
  • The Inquisitr “HP DreamScreen Shouldn’t Be Called A Digital Photo Frame.”
  • eHomeUpgrade “HP Launches the HP DreamScreen Infotainment Display“
  • Digital Picture Frame Review “I hesitate to call the DreamScreen just a digital picture frame, although it does do that. So it’s more than a frame – it truly is a new platform.”
  • Gadget Republic “You see, the DreamScreen is like a smart TV/lightweight laptop hybrid tablet that has plenty of interactivity and always-on connection via Wi-Fi but it serves the purpose of being an aesthetically pleasing media hub.”
  • CNET Crave “It sort of reminds me of a super-sized Chumby–another interesting jack-of-all-trades gadget that never really seemed to take off.”
  • PC Magazine “The DreamScreen is meant to act as a wireless gateway to the Internet and all of the digital media stored on your network and other home computers.”
  • Tech News World “HP has shared its dream with the world, but not everyone is sure what to make of it. The DreamScreen is much more than a digital picture frame, but much less than a tablet PC.”
  • PC World “But the DreamScreen, for me, is stuck in tablet purgatory. It’s not quite the tablet I want it to be and too expensive to justify as a replacement for the digital picture frame I never use.”

The more I read articles (with quote like these) the more I could not help but think that if the industry experts, whose business is to know and understand new technology, don’t understand what the DreamScreen is, then how does HP expect the consuming public to understand it and in turn buy it?

What finally solidified my concerns that HP has some marketing work to do on the DreamScreen was when I read a quote by Leslie Fiering of Gartner Research.  Ms Fiering, a vice president covering mobile computing concluded that “the DreamScreen appears to be an interesting product in search of a use.

So just what is the HP DreamScreen? Is it a tablet PC? Is it a Digital Frame? Is it  Social Calendar? Is it a Lite Weight TV? Or is it an Infotainment Display or possibly a Media Hub? Personally, from what I can deduce from my own reading, I think PC Magazine probably best describes what the HP DreamScreen is all about. However I won’t truly know until I actually set one up and and use it for awhile.

Regardless of what HP intended the DreamScreen to be, the industry is not getting it.

For more information about HP’s DreamScreen I recommend you visit the DreamScreen website.

7 thoughts on “Will HP’s DreamScreen Be A Marketing Nightmare?”

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