HP Labs India

HP shows India specific designs

SiliconIndia
April 07, 2006

PALO ALTO: After Intel showed an-India specific motherboard last week, it’s the turn of Hewlett-Packard Co to show off new products tailored to the market in India.

The products include a writing tablet that makes it easier to enter characters from two of India's 14 national languages into a computer.

"If you're in the high technology business, you need to look ahead. The ball keeps moving," Dick Lampman, HP's senior vice president of research, said after unveiling the products.

He spoke at a demonstration at HP Labs headquarters that featured technologies designed at HP Labs India, which was established in 2002.

The square tablet, which HP dubbed the Gesture Keyboard, allows a computer user to use a pen like stylus to enter characters in two of India's languages.

The 15-cm-by-15-cm device was introduced in India two weeks ago and costs about $50. HP plans to offer updates so it will eventually serve speakers of additional languages.

"This is the way we learn to write as children," said Ajay Gupta, the director of HP Labs India. "There's absolutely no new learning required."