HP making changes within Voodoo?

Here's a curious one -- merely months after HP essentially revitalized the Voodoo brand and cranked out the undeniably sexy Envy 133 laptop / Omen desktop, in flies word that the branch may be broken in the foreseeable future. In response to rumors that the Voodoo PC division would be canned entirely, Rahul Sood (yeah, the same guy that pimped an undisclosed new gizmo barely a week ago) stated that "HP is working on a plan to better leverage its existing resources to bring Voodoo products to market faster and make them more accessible to consumers." An HP spokeswoman was also quoted as saying that "[it] continually assesses and re-balances the size of its work force relative to the business environment and market conditions." In other words, no one is denying nor confirming the whispers, and while we have our own suspicions about what that means, we'll let you make of it what you wish.

[Via CNET]

[black @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:24AM]

With VoodooDNA on the BlackBirds they pretty much already folded Voodoo into the company, so its really only a matter of time until Voodoo becomes a second badge on HP product, if not canned entirely.

[Will H. @ Sep 23rd 2008 4:22AM]

Voodoo is cool as hell, and I can't imagine why they'd want to do anything other then increase the number of Voodoo items. HP has tried to come up with shiny laptops/desktops, so it would only make sense that they'd want to use the people at Voodoo to continue that.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:24AM]

If they merged into the HP hive, that wouldn't be so bad. More things like the Blackbird and more exposure with HP's full support behind their designers and engineers.

But, maybe they're just axing them. Who knows. Either way, that new Omen is fucking awesome.

[crescentdavid @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:39AM]

Both the omen and the envy are remarkable products. It'd be a shame to have the entire voodoo culture subsumed by HP. Synergy, anyone?

[joe @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:29AM]

I like the envy, but Rahul is a douche.

[jorvay @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:31PM]

I've never been given reason to believe this. Not arguing with you, just curious as to what makes him a douche?

[Andreas @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:47AM]

The envy looks amazing and I'm sure a lot of people want one.
But perhaps too few bought one?

In this current economic climate, people are perhaps more hesitant to spend money on 'luxury' items. And as a result perhaps not enough people ordered the envy and omen to keep them sustained as a viable separate line?

Or in other words: HP tried but failed to establish a 'Vertu' or 'B&O' line of computers.

[Bryan @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:43AM]

I must give hp some credit on this one. Until now there laptops I felt just weren't made as well as a Lenovo or Sony. They look like they might have done something here. Maybe ill be able to see one of these when they release them.

[chris @ Sep 23rd 2008 9:04AM]

Being a Voodoo owner, I can attest to the terrible service I have received. Both with the purchase itself and with a subsequent servicing that I am going through now two years later. This company just doesn't have their act together. I regularly tell friends to stay away. Definitely a purchase I regret.

[Jon @ Sep 23rd 2008 9:11AM]

I bought Falcon Northwest and couldn't be happier. Experience has been wonderful.

[edward @ Sep 23rd 2008 10:59AM]

That Voodoo envy looks mighty appealing, I may get one eventually, but for now I have ordered an acer aspire one blue with a GB ram 120 GB HDD 6 cell battery and win XP

[Arthur Fonzarelli @ Sep 23rd 2008 11:13AM]

What a waste of a premium brand: "make them more accessible to consumers"

Rahul uses the car examples quite a bit, so: what would happen if Ferrari made their cars more accessible by releasing a $40,000 model? Accessibility is what makes or breaks a premium brand - if everyone can have one, why would you want one?

This makes no sense to me.