Say Hello to the Voodoo Business Unit
Ever since the launch of HP Blackbird 002 with Voodoo DNA we have been fielding many questions and requests from various sources. People are asking us when our next product offering is coming, when we are going into retail, when we are going to refresh the Voodoo line, and multiple other business related questions.
First thing is first, we wanted to wait for the dust to clear before we made any further announcements and before we launched any new products. In the meantime we just finished scaling our Calgary facility to accommodate a much larger professional downdraft paint booth. The paint facility now includes three booths, one of which is dedicated to mixing custom colours. It features a clean room which eliminates all dust, and ensures that any personalization you order from us will remain absolutely flawless.
We also ordered some really cool equipment which I’m not going to announce just yet – but let’s say that that the investment is going to put us further ahead of the competition in the boutique and performance PC space. HP is clearly committed to this space and based on our expansion on the customer care, sales, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and business side we’re not stopping.
Many loyal Voodoo customers and fans expressed their excitement when they saw that Blackbird is miles ahead of any other desktop performance PC on the market – and understandably they became concerned when we never announced any new Voodoo products (yet).
Well, the fact is we have been investing in our portfolio behind the scenes, much of which has been preparing our infrastructure to be able to handle the business that we anticipate we will generate.
Our management team has decided we will no longer be called “The Global Gaming Unit of Hewlett Packard”; rather we are now officially “The Voodoo Business Unit of Hewlett Packard”. This quiet announcement, while seemingly small, has profound implications on our charter. Not only will you see products with VoodooDNA which feature our core heritage of performance gaming and second-to-none build quality and engineering from HP, but you’ll also see Voodoo dedicated products which will continue to tap the luxury highly personalized market – while still taking full advantage of the engineering and quality strengths that HP has brought to the table.
The merger of HP and Voodoo is very similar to Lamborghini when they were acquired by Audi. People didn’t know what to make of it – until cars like the new Audi R8 was released and has received accolades all over the industry. One could easily draw a parallel from the Audi R8 to HP’s Blackbird 002. Of course now that our expansion is virtually complete, we need to launch a new “Gallardo” (drawing a parallel to Lamborghini) while expanding our portfolio in multiple directions.
Again, not getting into any details – but if you thought Blackbird was a killer launch, wait until you see what’s coming out later this year. We have some huge aspirations and the excitement in our business is palpable.
I feel like someone needs to pinch me… I mean how awesome is it, that the company I know and love is now an official name of an HP business unit?!
We have also been working feverously on the creation of a new unified community at HP which will include a place for customers and potential customers of both the HP with Voodoo DNA portfolio and the Voodoo exclusive portfolio.
As we continue to work on the new community site I have invited our very own Greg Vederman and Kristin Reilly to blog on my blog (for now). I will continue to write non specific industry related articles on the blog as well, and eventually you’ll see both Greg and Kristin move over to the community blog while my blog will be rss’d over there.
Until the new community launches we’re also officially opening a forum on the Voodoo MUTTHABoards dedicated to Blackbird customers and potential customers.
So while 2007 was a crazy year for HP’s Voodoo Business Unit (aka Global Gaming) with the expansion of Voodoo, and especially the launch of Blackbird 002 -- we’re screaming along and ready to unleash some really cool products -- stay tuned and please welcome Greg and Kristin to the blog!
First thing is first, we wanted to wait for the dust to clear before we made any further announcements and before we launched any new products. In the meantime we just finished scaling our Calgary facility to accommodate a much larger professional downdraft paint booth. The paint facility now includes three booths, one of which is dedicated to mixing custom colours. It features a clean room which eliminates all dust, and ensures that any personalization you order from us will remain absolutely flawless.
We also ordered some really cool equipment which I’m not going to announce just yet – but let’s say that that the investment is going to put us further ahead of the competition in the boutique and performance PC space. HP is clearly committed to this space and based on our expansion on the customer care, sales, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and business side we’re not stopping.
Many loyal Voodoo customers and fans expressed their excitement when they saw that Blackbird is miles ahead of any other desktop performance PC on the market – and understandably they became concerned when we never announced any new Voodoo products (yet).
Well, the fact is we have been investing in our portfolio behind the scenes, much of which has been preparing our infrastructure to be able to handle the business that we anticipate we will generate.
Our management team has decided we will no longer be called “The Global Gaming Unit of Hewlett Packard”; rather we are now officially “The Voodoo Business Unit of Hewlett Packard”. This quiet announcement, while seemingly small, has profound implications on our charter. Not only will you see products with VoodooDNA which feature our core heritage of performance gaming and second-to-none build quality and engineering from HP, but you’ll also see Voodoo dedicated products which will continue to tap the luxury highly personalized market – while still taking full advantage of the engineering and quality strengths that HP has brought to the table.
The merger of HP and Voodoo is very similar to Lamborghini when they were acquired by Audi. People didn’t know what to make of it – until cars like the new Audi R8 was released and has received accolades all over the industry. One could easily draw a parallel from the Audi R8 to HP’s Blackbird 002. Of course now that our expansion is virtually complete, we need to launch a new “Gallardo” (drawing a parallel to Lamborghini) while expanding our portfolio in multiple directions.
Again, not getting into any details – but if you thought Blackbird was a killer launch, wait until you see what’s coming out later this year. We have some huge aspirations and the excitement in our business is palpable.
I feel like someone needs to pinch me… I mean how awesome is it, that the company I know and love is now an official name of an HP business unit?!
We have also been working feverously on the creation of a new unified community at HP which will include a place for customers and potential customers of both the HP with Voodoo DNA portfolio and the Voodoo exclusive portfolio.
As we continue to work on the new community site I have invited our very own Greg Vederman and Kristin Reilly to blog on my blog (for now). I will continue to write non specific industry related articles on the blog as well, and eventually you’ll see both Greg and Kristin move over to the community blog while my blog will be rss’d over there.
Until the new community launches we’re also officially opening a forum on the Voodoo MUTTHABoards dedicated to Blackbird customers and potential customers.
So while 2007 was a crazy year for HP’s Voodoo Business Unit (aka Global Gaming) with the expansion of Voodoo, and especially the launch of Blackbird 002 -- we’re screaming along and ready to unleash some really cool products -- stay tuned and please welcome Greg and Kristin to the blog!
1 comments:
Hi Rahul:
Great post. I agree that this is a good move for Voodoo. I think the comparisons to Audi are fair.
The trick will be maintaing the Voodoo brand and image, while using the DNA under the HP brand for more mainstream products (while reinforcing Voodoo and not dilluting it).
Good luck. I think this is a good step in the right direction.
Crawford
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