Hewlett Packard – A brave stab

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Integrating Leap Motion could give HPQ an edge in PCs.

  • HPQ’s decision to integrate Leap Motion’s 3-D motion control into some of its devices offers potential for differentiation but there are hurdles to jump over.
  • Leap Motion makes and sells a 80mm x 20mm x 12mm device that plugs into the USB port of a computer and allows it to be controlled with any manner of 3D gestures made above the device.
  • Its ability to detect motion is incredibly accurate meaning that movements of all 10 fingers can be detected and understood separately.
  • The device can be used to control Mac OSX and Windows out of the box, but applications themselves have to be modified to work with the device.
  • Hence, an environment and application store called Airspace is provided with the device for installation on the user’s computer.
  • The first potential use for this technology is the replacement of a touch panel.
  • Touch has been a real problem for the ultrabook market as one needs it to properly realise the benefits of Windows 8 but it adds at least $100 of cost.
  • Ultrabook prices have been a limiting factor when it comes to take up to date.
  • The Leap Motion device retails for $80 meaning that HPQ should be able to integrate it for much less.
  • Using Leap Motion instead of touch would result in a lower build cost and have the added advantage of not getting the screen dirty.
  • The larger the screen becomes, the more expensive and the less intuitive touch becomes, meaning that this technology could work very nicely for smart TVs and so on.
  • Samsung’s integrated motion capture on its Smart TV’s is awful and badly needs to be fixed.
  • The problem with Leap Motion is software.
  • The device will only work with software that has been modified to accept this new input technology, meaning that in the early days its appeal will be quite limited.
  • However, HPQ ships a lot of computers meaning that there could be a lot of devices in the hands of users quite quickly should HPQ choose to push this into the mainstream.
  • HPQ will need to invest in writing software to ensure a decent and wide ranging user experience.
  • One of things I really need to see is software that will allow the device to replicate the touch experience without having to rewrite all of the applications.
  • Applications written for Windows 8 Metro are all optimised for touch and this technology needs to allow them to work as designed on a non-touch device out of the box.
  • This is just the sort of pump priming that would be needed to get the virtuous circle of devices and developers rolling resulting in mass adoption.
  • This looks like a good way for HPQ to reduce costs as well as differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive and difficult PC market.
  • Given the size of the device, it will be a while before this makes it into mobile phones, but Samsung already has something similar, albeit much more basic, in its high-end Galaxy devices.

 

RICHARD WINDSOR

Richard is founder, owner of research company, Radio Free Mobile. He has 16 years of experience working in sell side equity research. During his 11 year tenure at Nomura Securities, he focused on the equity coverage of the Global Technology sector.

Blog Comments

Curious how this is different than/superior to Kinect for PC?

The device is FAR more accurate. It can tell all your fingers apart from each other and all at once. It also (reportedly) is better at deifning 3D movement.

Its also much smaller!

Based on personal experience or from online reviews?

speaking to those who have played with it…..

Sounds awesome. I wish I could test it out in a store.

you cant yet..they have just pushed shipment back to July 22nd…something seems to have gone wrong.

[…] This device has the possibility to turn any desktop or TV screen into a touch-based device at a much cheaper price ($80) than putting touch sensitivity into the panel. (see here) […]