I was walking through Best Buy this weekend, when I came across the new HP ENVY notebook. Wow, a PC with a MacBook Pro body, only better. The ENVY is thinner, lighter, but more powerful and with a much better screen. The 13” ENVY starts at $1700, vs. $1200 for the MacBook Pro. For the extra $500, you get a brighter screen, 0.8 lbs. less weight, and a newer processor vs. the MacBook. I think this is a strategic pricing mistake.
Is Apple doomed? I don’t think so.
HP made a huge strategic mistake in trying to obviously copy the MacBook Pro’s design. This makes it look like not a top of line PC, but rather as a PC that’s trying really really hard to be better the MacBook Pro. While the specs may be superior, this is ultimately a losing proposition. Imagine if GM produced a car that looked just like a Ferrari, but with better 0-60 acceleration and mileage, and priced it higher. Would you buy it?
The message this sends is that the best HP’s designers can do is to copy Apple, which only reinforces the idea that Apple has the best designs out there.
The ENVY could really have been great, but I predict a big miss here. The best that could happen is that when its price point drops to be comparable to the MacBook Pros, it might prevent some converts. HP should have started at that price point from the outset, or better yet, gone with an original design.