Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Leap Motion’s computer accessory allows users to control a computer by waving their fingers and hands.

Personal-computer sales have fallen through the floor as people spend more time on mobile devices. The world’s largest PC maker is trying to lure some buyers back with an unusual new way to control their machines.

Hewlett-Packard is partnering with Leap Motion, the San Francisco-based startup that has developed a gadget allowing people to navigate their computers using gestures such as the turn of the hand or flick of a finger. After flip-flopping over whether to sell off its PC division in 2011, HP hopes finger wags will help breathe new life into a stalling product category.

This summer, HP will start bundling Leap Motion’s product, a cigarette-lighter sized device that sits on a computer desk and uses small cameras to detect subtle movements, together with some PC models. HP is also developing new computers that will have Leap’s technology embedded directly, without the need for a separate peripheral, the startup said today.

HP has turned to other companies in the past as it looked for ways to differentiate itself in the crowded PC market. In 2009, it struck a deal with Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics, which makes designer headphones, that included an extensive marketing campaign.

Right now, the PC industry needs to turn up the volume more than ever. In the first three months of 2013, global PC sales fell 14 percent, the worst decline on record, according to industry researcher IDC. Microsoft’s Windows 8 doesn’t appear to be helping.

Leap Motion pitches itself as a white knight ready to ride in and save the day. The startup already has a similar deal in place with Asustek Computer.

“The PC market isn’t going anywhere,” Andy Miller, Leap Motion’s chief operating officer, said in an interview. “It’s massive.”

Leap Motion will begin selling its gadget separately next month. The company has raised $44.1 million since 2011 from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund. (Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg.com, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.)

While Leap Motion is starting with computers, it’s not getting hitched. The technology is expected to be tailored to other gadgets in the future, Miller said. “You’ll see this product in tablets, smartphones, TVs, remote controls and who knows what else.”

It could find its way into more PCs, too — if anyone is still buying them.

Original post is HP Hopes Leap Motion’s Hand-Gesture Controls Help Revive the PC by Tech Deals.

Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

As Dell takes itself private, Hewlett-Packard is vying for its rival’s PC customers.

(Updates with comment from Lenovo.)

Say this for Hewlett-Packard — the beaten-down computer maker still has chutzpah. A little more than an hour after rival Dell said it would go private in a $24.4 billion leveraged buyout, Hewlett-Packard made a bid to nab customers by saying Dell faces “a very tough road ahead.”

“Leveraged buyouts tend to leave existing customers and innovation at the curb,” Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard said today in a statement. “Dell’s customers will now be eager to explore alternatives, and HP plans to take full advantage of that opportunity.”

In some ways, Hewlett-Packard’s response could be seen as payback. When the company said in August 2011 that it would explore a spinout of its personal-computer business, sending its shares plummeting, Dell founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell took to Twitter’s microblogging website to publicly gloat.

“Goodbye HP, Sorry you don’t want to be in PCs anymore. But we do more than ever,” he wrote.

Now, Dell is going private after a quarter-century as a public company in part to accelerate its transition away from low-margin desktops and laptops. Dell’s stock has lost more than half its value since January 2007, when Dell resumed his role as CEO. Once the PC market leader, Dell is now No. 3 behind Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo Group.

Dell “faces an extended period of uncertainty and transition that will not be good for its customers,” Hewlett-Packard said in the statement. “With a significant debt load, Dell’s ability to invest in new products and services will be extremely limited.”

Yet Hewlett-Packard’s plight is at least as dire. Its shares have plunged about 65 percent since former CEO Mark Hurd left in August 2010. The company has churned through CEOs — it’s now on its fourth leader since the middle of the last decade — and has been beset by strategy shifts, depleted product development and misguided acquisitions.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard climbed on the Dell buyout news, rising 2.4 percent to $16.57 at 1:55 p.m. in New York.

In 1997, as Dell’s business was on the rise, Michael Dell famously said Apple would be better off shutting down and returning the cash to shareholders. While no one is talking about Dell closing its doors, Hewlett-Packard is wasting no time in making hay.

Meantime, Lenovo is taking a more measured stance, declining to comment on the Dell news specifically, while saying that the financial actions of rivals won’t change its outlook.

“Our strategy is clear, our financial position is healthy and our business is very strong,” Beijing-based Lenovo said in a statement today. “We are focused on our products, customers and overall execution rather than distracting financial maneuvers and major strategic shifts.”

Original post is Payback Time? HP Tries to Nab Dell’s PC Customers by Tech Deals.