Chicago (IL) – Over the past days, we have heard some rumors that Hewlett-Packard (HP) may be killing VoodooPC just before the Christmas season. It turns out that changes are in fact being made, but they are less dramatic, at least for the brand. For the company VoodooPC, the changes are significant, as HP aims to leverage the brand much more than it has done in the past.

VoodooPC founder Rahul Sood just posted a note on his blog, stating that VoodooPC isn’t going away. Instead, “the Voodoo products are no longer going to be stand-alone entities, but rather they have been welcomed into the greater HP catalogue,” Sood wrote. He noted that this “means” that “Voodoo and Voodoo-influenced products will be easier to buy, faster to get, they will feature local service, and they will have the full power of HP’s marketing and sales channel behind them.”

“The bottom line is we have ignited the brand and sparked big excitement; so we are now integrating our organizations to fuel our growth,” Sood wrote.

Of course, there is a bit more to the story. By making a few phone calls, we learned that HP was not entirely happy with the idea of running VoodooPC as a satellite office, far away from its main PC business. Since its acquisition, VoodooPC remained a rather small entity and with the success the 2006 acquisition had in mind, it was just a matter of time when HP would request the team to join the rest of the PC team on the mother ship. As far as layoffs are concerned, we hear that VoodooPC people have been or will be given the option to move, but some may choose to stay in Calgary (think twice guys, Silicon Valley may be expensive, but it is a nice place to live.)   

Sood said that the VoodooPC brand won’t disappear; however, we were told its PCs will be built using HP resources with the Omen and Envy being the first ones coming off (contracted) HP production lines. Given the buzz the Envy 133 created, it should not be a surprise that HP wants to cash in on this fancy device – a notebook that can hold its own next to a Macbook Air.

VoodooPC enthusiasts may not be too happy that HP is taking a greater role in VoodooPC, but that is business. And even if VoodooPC’s reputation as the Formula 1 unit of HP may get some scratches, don’t forget that even Ferrari is owned by mainstream car manufacturer Fiat and Lamborghini is run by Audi.

Little mistake

Sep 24, 2008 11:06     

Lambos are owned by Volkswagen, aswell as Audi, Skoda, Seat and lots more. :)
Paulius report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

In other words . . .

Sep 24, 2008 15:13     

All that handcrafted quality you were getting from Voodoo PCs being made in that quaint little house in Canada by people who knew what they were doing just went out the window. Voodoo is now just a label on yet another HP computer.
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@Paulius

Sep 24, 2008 15:16     

You are correct, and Rolls is also VW. The problem with the Lambo and Ferrari angle is that Lambos and Ferraris do not come off the same line a VWs and Fiats, each one is still put together by hand in a separate facility. HP just started churning out Lambos through the same chute as a VW Bug.
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