Toshiba launches premium corporate laptop line

Toshiba launches premium corporate laptop line
It's going to keep the latest technology to itself at first



FEBRUARY 14, 2005 - Toshiba Corp. launched a new line of laptops today designed to be more secure, sturdier and easier to connect, in a bid to lure business customers by retaining the latest technology longer for itself.
The Tokyo-based company, which is also a major supplier of hard disks, DVD drives, chips and thin displays to rival laptop computer makers, introduced the new line of EasyGuard portable computers to differentiate itself from commodity products.

"We're going after selfish innovation. We keep the best technology for our own products for six to nine months. After that, we commoditize it, while at the same time, we will introduce new premium features for new products," said Oscar Koenders, Toshiba's European general manager for computer systems. "Mr. Dell ... we'll cut him off for six to nine months."

By 2008, Toshiba expects more laptops will be shipped than desktop computers. It claims about 15% of the laptop market and ranks No. 7 in overall PC rankings, including desktops and laptops, according to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. Last year, 189 million PCs were sold worldwide.

The strategy to approach the business market with EasyGuard products is similar to the Qosmio line of premium laptops for the consumer segment launched six months ago. But unlike the Qosmio products, EasyGuard laptops won't be priced much above other laptops.

"Making products more robust is not worth hundreds of euros to a corporate IT department," Koenders said.

The features, however, could save businesses significant amounts of money in case computers are dropped, stolen or lost. Toshiba has fitted the products with a range of safety features that prevent loss of data, including advanced movement sensors, rubber bands and air cells around fragile components, and water insulators that keep a computer from crashing three minutes after spilling a cup of tea over the keyboard.

Tests by independent test institute TUV America Inc. showed the laptops survived a fall from a desk and 30 milliliters of water poured on them.

The machines will also be fitted with a range of the latest market-standard security features, as well as improved connectivity systems for wireless and wired networks. One new item is a "summit" function that makes it easy to wirelessly share information between laptops in a meeting.