Hewlett-Packard looks to leasing to prime sales

By Kelvin Soh

TAIPEI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), the world's top personal computer seller, said on Thursday it is exploring new ways to help businesses afford PCs as many cut back on spending in the current economic downturn.

These measures include leasing computers to firms that may be otherwise unwilling to buy new systems, said See Chin Teik, who heads the company's personal systems division in Asia.

He declined to elaborate on specifics of any computer leasing plans that HP was developing.

"It's a good assumption to make that more customers may need such help when credit and cash is tight," See told Reuters in a phone interview.

HP may be exploring the move into leasing out of necessity rather than choice, said Reuben Tan, an analyst with IDC.

"Terms of credit have shrunk a lot, and some of their commercial partners may have difficulty accessing cash as easily as they could before."

Tan added that leasing, while forcing HP to put up more cash for its customers, could also allow the company to broaden its revenue streams by leasing out entire computer systems in addition to individual computers.   Continued...