• by Karl Greenberg , October 5, 2010

Richard Gerstein has a lot on his plate. Just four months ago, he came to Hewlett Packard from Sears to SVP of worldwide strategy and marketing for the company's personal systems group [PSG] -- notebook and desktop PCs, personal workstations, smartphones and Internet services.

Prior to joining HP, Gerstein was president of marketing for Sears Holdings. He was also global chief marketing officer for Alberto Culver Beauty.

Gerstein, who reports to Todd Bradley, HP's EVP of PSG, sees the future of HP in its ability to make machines and applications that let people connect to the cloud, and to their other devices quickly and efficiently. Perhaps it's no accident that he carries a Palm Pre phone in his pocket. The device -- among other things, a phone, a 3G Wifi station, and music player -- evinces the kind of digital world Gerstein sees down the road.

Q: What is HP's differentiating vision as a PC and Internet device company?

A: With the acquisition of Palm on July 1, we are focused on a vision of being part of a future of connected devices, being a leader in applications and software and entertainment platforms like Beats Audio, which is our platform for a much better computer-based sound system. We are partnering with Dr. Dre to promote Beats. We have identified several strategic pillars: music, fashion, design, general entertainment, video and gaming.

Q: Why such a focus on music?

A: Today, younger people listen to music right off of their computers, streamed, or recorded, but computers were never really designed around providing that kind of experience. Beats is built-in digital sound that sounds as music was intended to sound. And it will be on desktops as well. Even in a down economy, digital technology is central to your life. And particularly for people under the age of 30, the computer is an entertainment platform.

Q: So what does HP have to differentiate the company, especially when one could argue that for many people PC's are commodities?

A: I believe there will be anywhere from two to four companies, ultimately, who will lead -- who will create phones, pads, and computers with software that connects them all seamlessly. We are, for instance, coming out with a 3D notebook computer this year. The hardware will keep getting better, but the winners will be the people who seamlessly connect these devices and give you access to content. There are a lot of players today but many are niche players, because the barriers to entry -- as hardware got outsourced -- have come down. So it is easier for people to get into the business.

Q:There will only be four big players. Is that a harsh outlook for HP?

A: No, I see it as positive because the next level of innovations will let the strong companies rise and the weak fall out. And I have no doubt HP will dominate. A good example of this was the hair-care market in the '80s, when products got outsourced, and there were countless brands of shampoo on the shelves. People were practically making the stuff in their bathtubs. Then innovations like two-in-one shampoo came around that a lot of people didn't have the capacity to do.

Q: So what are the two-in-one shampoos of the computing world?

A: It's going to be -- over the next three years -- how I connect and what I can do. In home entertainment a receiver is a receiver. A DVD player is a DVD player. They are commodities. What is changing that is how you connect these devices, what you can stream on TV, where the content can live, how you can store it.

Q: How is HP projecting that goal and HP's place in the universe in advertising?

A: We have been focused on new a vision for business: How people think, feel and connect through their devices. We are working on taking the current campaign to the next level, given our capabilities with Palm and Web OS, and software apps. So next year there will be a next version of the campaign. A fresh campaign. We are working harder on points of differentiation around hardware.

Q:What is HP doing to get more focused consumer input through social media platforms?

A: Consumer input will play a much bigger role in product and marketing. Social media is a fabulous place to learn from the customer. We just launched an online community called 367 Addison Avenue [named after the Palo Alto garage where founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tinkered], and we are going to be building that out, and also tapping into other communities. We are building more internal capabilities to participate in those conversations.