Hewlett-Packard will soon muscle into China's digital camera, projector and flat-panel TV sector, adding a potentially powerful player to those highly lucrative but competitive markets.

Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina said in Shanghai Wednesday HP will start selling digital cameras on the Chinese mainland in the coming months.

Digital projectors and digital displays will also start shipping later this year. The move comes at a time when the traditional information technology vendor is making an aggressive push into the consumer electronics business.

HP is putting a high-profile bet on digital imaging and digital entertainment, which it sees as two major growth drivers.

Carly said a "digital revolution" is taking place at home.

Over the past few years after the boom and bust of technologies, "there was pessimism that maybe we were going to the end... But actually the digital revolution at home is at the very beginning."

Sales of digital products in China last year reached 12.23 billion yuan (US$1.48 billion), a 77.4 percent hike year-on-year last year, compared with the 15.4 percent growth for the computer market as a whole.

HP's entry into the consumer electronics markets is expected to face fierce competition from Sony and Samsung which have built a strong presence there.

Carly says HP is capable of staking out a strong position in China's consumer electronics business since it is "a unique company" which provides a full line of products.

She cited HP's entry into China's home PC market eight months ago as an example.

HP is already the fifth-largest vendor in China's home market and the top foreign-branded vendor.

Edward Yu, president of Beijing-based Analysys Consulting, said in the digital home space, HP has more advantages over other makers.

"HP has built a strong brand awareness in China, which will provide it easier and faster access to electronics consumer market where brand is the crux," he said.

"Except cellphones, HP has almost a full line of portfolio necessary to the digital home," he said.

At the heart of HP's digital entertainment strategy is a comprehensive digital entertainment system that makes it easy to create, manage, transfer, share and enjoy all forms of entertainment content across a range of devices and component technologies, HP said.

(China Daily March 11, 2004)