Branding changes on products in the HP PSG division

HP has announced changes to the branding of products within its Personal Systems Group (PSG) division, according to Margie Adam, HP PSG product manager at Axiz.

She explains, "In May 2002, HP`s merger with Compaq was approved, resulting in the 'New HP` - a company with 140,000 employees in 160 countries and combined revenue of $72 billion in 2002. For the first year of trading as the merged company, HP ran two lines of branded products: HP and Compaq. At the end of 2002, all the products in the PSG division were moved onto Compaq branding only."

Adam comments that there was a substantial amount of confusion in the channel during this period because certain products were purchased off the Compaq 'red` system, which featured Rand-based pricing, while others were purchased off the HP 'blue` system that had Dollar-based pricing.

"In order to eliminate this confusion, HP has moved all its products within the PSG division onto HP branding and the blue, dollar-based ordering system with effect from June 2003. Thus, using a product example, what was previously the Compaq Evo N1050v has now been superseded by a product branded as the HP Compaq nx9000," states Adam.

She concludes, "This is a natural evolution and to be expected after a merger of this size. The new branding combines the leverage of the HP brand with the existing Compaq equity."