HP discinutes its camera -- continued!

HP announced that they will no longer be selling their digital camera. Now I don't own an HP camera and I never have. I was, however, awed at how salesman at a local camera store -- just minutes from HP's head quarters -- were telling everyone that it was the worst camera ever.

That was about 5 years ago. I remember thinking how HP will recover and improve its most basic of all multi-media devices!!! Deeeehhhhhhh was I ever wrong! And I should have known better too.

Regardless, in a way it is a shame. May be HP was not an optics company, and granted optics was not their core strength (specially after Agilent was split from HP). But digital cameras are not all about optics.

At the age of computer on a chip, you would think that HP would put auto-calibration functionalities into its camera. Or color super sampling and multi-res; how about simple image warping and editing, background subtraction and modifications or other trivial things. Blur detection and depth of field extrapolation...

After all, HP was uniquely qualified to do this because... well they still have the HP Labs!!! But they never really did. They stood by while Sony added face detection, and motion cancellation (probably soon spatial super resolution).

But nahhhh... HP never really hired anyone with a real image processing or computational vision background or at least the technical and business vision to make their camera work. I know because during my PhD I visited HP and asked them for potential jobs. I was met by a "their image" expert who told me: "Well we don't do any research on image processing or computer vision. We just try to solve practical problems as best we can!" I remember feeling baffled frankly, thinking I am talking to an idiot and definitely the wrong person. This can not really be true. I asked him if they attend conferences or read the better know journals. His response was, "well we try!" I still remember sitting there and watching this bozo with his checkered shirt telling me HP team was not about research and or development -- just solving the problems "they could"!!!

I guess not much ever changed afterwards !!! Which makes me wonder, what compelled the HP management to get into the camera business in the first place. Moreover, will their handsets meet the same faith?

Here is another Irony. HP was selling cameras and apparently had no-one to help it get it right. Intel, Microsoft and even Google and Yahoo sell no cameras and they have hired research scientists in image processing and computational vision!!! HP sold cameras and has them on its laptops... and still...

Well was HP's decision to discontinue its cameras a good idea? From a business stand point ABSO(freaking)LUTELY! They were loosing shares, were not cost competitive, their cameras were more as an add-on to their (photo) printers rather than the other way around, and perhaps MOST IMPORTANTLY, their camera qualities were starting to hurt their brand and reputation.

Were they positioned to differentiate themselves, build a strong IP, and be a force, both in hardware sales and licencing... they could but not without ever having their hearts (or brains) in it, which they never did! That part is a real shame :-(

Peace, Esfandiar--
Esfandiar Bandari, PhD, MBA
e.bandari@cantab.net, e.bandari@gmail.coms
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ebandari