• Wall Street Journal, Friday, May 15, 2009 10:45 AM

Hewlett-Packard, which has had disappointing home sales for its TouchSmart desktop computers, is moving into commercial uses for the technology. The new strategy pits it against rivals like International Business Machines, which has long sold touch-screen computers to do things like print out airline boarding passes, Justin Scheck reports.

Last month, H-P installed 50 touch-screen PCs in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for travelers to access online maps and restaurant listings. They are also being put into luxury boxes in the Detroit Pistons arena, where basketball fans can access player statistics and see instant replays. And Uniguest, a company that provides PCs with Internet access to hotels, is installing TouchSmart PCs in about two dozen hotels like the Nashville Airport Marriott.

The effort is key to generating growth, since companies will "buy 10 TouchSmarts at a time" and not just one, as an individual would, says Phil McKinney, the H-P CTO overseeing the project. IBM is also putting public computer kiosks into restaurants and retail stores. Norma Wolcott, vp of IBM's kiosk business, claims H-P's TouchSmart is more suited to consumers while it has tailored its own touch screens, software and services for business use.

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