HP unveils touch-screen iPaq

But will touch-screen phones become the standard for business users?

The iPaq Data Messenger has a touch screen

Touch-screen phones are poised to make the crossover from consumers to business buyers as more vendors unveil their latest models.

But some experts doubt whether this kind of user interface meets a real corporate need and say it is still best regarded as a consumer technology.

HP announced this week two new Windows Mobile smartphones, the iPaq Voice Messenger and iPaq Data Messenger, the latter offering a touch screen as well as a slide-out Qwerty keyboard to make tasks such as emails and messaging easier.

But contrary to some industry rumours, the Data Messenger does not have a gesture-based interface designed for fingertip control, as is the case in Apple’s iPhone and the BlackBerry Storm, unveiled by RIM earlier this month.

Neil Dagger, iPaq and wireless business manager at HP, said the firm has kept the standard Windows Mobile interface because it is familiar to business users, and there has been no demand from customers for anything different.

“I’m not sure IT managers want a new interface. What they do want is usability, reliability and manageability,” he said.

Jeremy Green, principal analyst for enterprise mobility at Ovum agreed. “I don’t think there is any particular demand for touch screens for business. In fact, there is a certain amount of resistance from the IT department against what are perceived as essentially consumer devices,” he said.

But Green said that vendors have to continue to innovate, because “customers don’t always know what they want until they see it”.

HP’s new iPaqs have an optical sensor in place of the standard five-way navigation control, allowing users to move around the screen by swiping their thumb across it. The Data Messenger has a stylus-driven touch-screen, while the Voice Messenger is a “candy-bar” style handset with a keyboard similar to that of the BlackBerry Pearl.

Some vendors, such as HTC and Samsung, have provided touch capabilities by adding a second user interface running on top of Windows Mobile.

The BlackBerry Storm added a twist to the touch-screen theme through tactile feedback, which means users can feel a “click” when they use the on-screen keyboard.