HP's Calculator Website

[rawi]

[quote='0culus' pid='135205' dateline='1596856548']
[quote]Aside from the 12C, I reckon calculator sales to professionals is a dying businesn.

Back in the day, a purchase like an HP-65 or 67 or 41C or similar was a pretty big layout of capital for a machine that you would use for serious computational tasks.

Not anymore.[/quote]

I think we have to realize that the only markets for calculators are schools and universities. Schools for teaching purposes (teachers do not want pupils to use their smartphones and tablets during lessons) and both for testing and exams purposes (to avoid cheating).

But this could be an excellent brand building opportunity for companiels like HP and I do not know if anybody realizes this. If you work with an excellent calculator that enjoys an excellent service on the website you have a very good brand experience. It is known from research that brand attachment formed during childhood and youth can last for a lifetime. And those will be the men and women who will order IT equipment for the decades to come!

[toml_12953]

(08-12-2020 03:37 AM)rawi Wrote:  But this could be an excellent brand building opportunity for companiels like HP and I do not know if anybody realizes this. If you work with an excellent calculator that enjoys an excellent service on the website you have a very good brand experience. It is known from research that brand attachment formed during childhood and youth can last for a lifetime. And those will be the men and women who will order IT equipment for the decades to come!

It's probably too late for that in the USA. TI already has a lock on the education market. I was hired to do a study of why the prices of TI calculators are so high given that the technology used is many years old. We surveyed 5000 teachers. Over 99% required TI calculators in their classes. Only about 2% had even heard of RPN. 47% had either been to a TI seminar or attended one online. The educational discount on TI equipment is massive and the marketing is focused. TI has more teachers employed in its educational division alone than HP has in its entire calculator division (is there such a thing anymore?) Product quality is an extremely tiny factor in the decision to buy. As you correctly pointed out, brand attachment usually lasts a lifetime. In the US, today's students are attached to TI. Guess which calculators they'll specify when they become educators? The cycle is self-perpetuating. It's possible for HP to break the cycle but not without tremendous will and drive. They will have to implement a long-term plan and forgo short term profits (investors hate that) in order to make a dent in the TI juggernaut. They'll have to invest in training facilities, and staff (who must be knowledgeable in both the products they sell and the teaching profession) The time it would take to train that staff is not insignificant. TI has a huge lead.

[Steve Simpkin]

I wonder how many of those students who were required to use a certain model TI calculator in high school/college put them in a drawer after graduation and almost never touch them again, except perhaps many years later when they give them to their children who are required to have the same model when they start high school. The viscous cycle at work...

[Dave Shaffer]

(08-12-2020 09:32 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  The viscous cycle at work...

That's why they "stick" around!