Teen central

  • Associated Press / Associated Press
  • Saturday, August 21, 2004 9:00pm
  • Business

This isn’t your typical, humdrum, slate-colored computer. Not only is the PC known as the hip-e almost all white, but its screen and keyboard are framed in fuzzy pink fur. Or a leopard skin design. Or a graffiti-themed pattern.

Sure, it’s outlandish, but you won’t see the hip-e in an office cubicle. The creators of the $1,699 hip-e claim it’s the first PC specifically for teenagers.

Of course, teens are infamously fickle, and today’s media-savvy kids are skilled at sniffing out and rejecting things that seem contrived. Today’s teens grew up with computers and have sophisticated demands for them.

But the company behind the hip-e, Digital Lifestyles Group Inc. of Austin, Texas, believes it’s got exactly what teenage computer users want.

Why such confidence? Because the company asked.

Last year, Digital Lifestyles CEO Kent Savage got his son Cameron, 16, and seven of the boy’s friends together and polled them about how they interacted with computers and the Internet.

One brand name that resonated was Apple Computer Inc., which has struck gold with its iPod music players and iTunes download service. But the teens said their parents resisted buying Apple computers because they don’t run Windows, the platform most people are familiar with.

So Savage decided to “Apple-ize the PC industry.”

Cameron and his friends were asked to draw up designs for their ideal PC. Two weeks later, the company came back with 20 product concepts, and in a five-hour session, the teens honed in on one.

Later, the prototype went to focus groups nationwide, and now the hip-e is ready for release in November. Orders are being taken now, including at displays in malls where pop star Ashlee Simpson is performing.

“Computers were originally made for adults, for work purposes,” said one member of the original design group, Nevin Watkins, 16. “I kind of really want a computer for me.”

The hip-e is designed to serve as a hub for all of a teenager’s digital interactions. (For an extra $100 it will come with an MP3 player/keychain data-storage drive, or a cellphone that runs on Sprint’s network and can be synched with data on the computer. Or both accouterments can be had for $200.)

The computer has a 120-gigabyte hard drive – perfect for storing a huge digital music library – plus Wi-Fi accessibility, a TV tuner and connections for video game consoles. Speakers attached to the bottom of the hip-e’s display stand can be removed and turned into a portable “beatbox.”

The computer has standard elements: a 1.5-gigahertz Pentium processor, Windows XP, anti-virus software, spyware and pop-up blockers and parental controls. But it’s been retooled to speak to teens in everyday terms.

For instance, users can click on “paper” to launch Microsoft Word, “create a presentation” to launch PowerPoint, or “burn CD” to open a CD-copying program.

The 17-inch desktop display – which boots up to screaming black and white swirls and squiggles against a lime-green backdrop – has a “hangout tuner,” an on-screen dial that lets users jump to categories of desktop applications: music, movies, games, photos, news, communications, shopping and homework.

Bigger computing companies have had mixed success in reaching teenagers. Last year, Microsoft Corp. released free software called 3 Degrees that is designed to give groups of young people a centralized way of sharing pictures, songs and instant messages. Microsoft says it still considers 3 Degrees a pilot test and won’t comment on how much use it gets.

Leading PC seller Dell Inc. has avoided age-group-specific marketing, opting instead to highlight ways anyone might use the company’s machines, spokesman Venancio Figueroa said. For example, Dell advertises its portable music player in music magazines and touts portable computers in back-to-school circulars, but neither device is retooled differently for younger users.

That’s why Savage figures the teen-focused hip-e has a nice niche.

He cites market research that says teens are considered the tech gurus in today’s families and dictate electronics purchases.

Meanwhile, teenagers are increasingly using credit card-like debit accounts and becoming more sophisticated consumers, said Paul Soltoff, head of SendTec Inc., a marketing services firm. In fact, the hip-e includes a prepaid debit account that teens or their parents can put money into, to fund the cell phone, online shopping or music downloads.

Soltoff thinks the hip-e must get big-time “viral marketing” – word-of-mouth recommendations among teens themselves.

Savage has that covered, too: Hip-e’s marketing plan includes dispatching 1,000 teens as a “launch squad,” whose members earn sales commissions.

Ultimately, however, the most important thing will be the hip-e’s performance, said Rob Callender, senior trends manager at market tracker Teenage Research Unlimited.

That’s because while teenagers love things that are designed for them, they also like to look ahead a few years, Callender said. So if the hip-e is geared for 16-year-olds, it might actually appeal to kids closer to 14.

“Teens aren’t willing,” he said, “to make compromises in electronics.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

A closing sign hangs above the entrance of the Big Lots at Evergreen and Madison on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Big Lots announces it will shutter Everett and Lynnwood stores

The Marysville store will remain open for now. The retailer reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year.

George Montemor poses for a photo in front of his office in Lynnwood, Washington on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.  (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Despite high mortgage rates, Snohomish County home market still competitive

Snohomish County homes priced from $550K to $850K are pulling in multiple offers and selling quickly.

Henry M. Jackson High School’s robotic team, Jack in the Bot, shake hands at the 2024 Indiana Robotics Invitational.(Henry M. Jackson High School)
Mill Creek robotics team — Jack in the Bot — wins big

Henry M. Jackson High School students took first place at the Indiana Robotic Invitational for the second year in a row.

The computer science and robotics and artificial intelligence department faculty includes (left to right) faculty department head Allison Obourn; Dean Carey Schroyer; Ishaani Priyadarshini; ROBAI department head Sirine Maalej and Charlene Lugli. PHOTO: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College.
Edmonds College to offer 2 new four-year degree programs

The college is accepting applications for bachelor programs in computer science as well as robotics and artificial intelligence.

FILE — Boeing 737 MAX8 airplanes on the assembly line at the Boeing plant in Renton, Wash., on March 27, 2019. Boeing said on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, that it was shaking up the leadership in its commercial airplanes unit after a harrowing incident last month during which a piece fell off a 737 Max 9 jet in flight. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)
Federal judge rejects Boeing’s guilty plea related to 737 Max crashes

The plea agreement included a fine of up to $487 million and three years of probation.

Neetha Hsu practices a command with Marley, left, and Andie Holsten practices with Oshie, right, during a puppy training class at The Everett Zoom Room in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Tricks of the trade: New Everett dog training gym is a people-pleaser

Everett Zoom Room offers training for puppies, dogs and their owners: “We don’t train dogs, we train the people who love them.”

Andy Bronson/ The Herald 

Everett mayor Ray Stephenson looks over the city on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2015 in Everett, Wa. Stephanson sees  Utah’s “housing first” model – dealing with homelessness first before tackling related issues – is one Everett and Snohomish County should adopt.

Local:issuesStephanson

Shot on: 1/5/16
Economic Alliance taps former Everett mayor as CEO

Ray Stephanson will serve as the interim leader of the Snohomish County group.

Molbak's Garden + Home in Woodinville, Washington will close on Jan. 28. (Photo courtesy of Molbak's)
After tumultuous year, Molbak’s is being demolished in Woodinville

The beloved garden store closed in January. And a fundraising initiative to revitalize the space fell short.

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center executive director Larry Cluphf, Boeing Director of manufacturing and safety Cameron Myers, Edmonds College President Amit Singh, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 2 celebrating the opening of a new fuselage training lab at Paine Field. Credit: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College
‘Magic happens’: Paine Field aerospace center dedicates new hands-on lab

Last month, Edmonds College officials cut the ribbon on a new training lab — a section of a 12-ton Boeing 767 tanker.

Gov. Jay Inslee presents CEO Fredrik Hellstrom with the Swedish flag during a grand opening ceremony for Sweden-based Echandia on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Swedish battery maker opens first U.S. facility in Marysville

Echandia’s marine battery systems power everything from tug boats to passenger and car ferries.

Helion Energy CEO and co-founder David Kirtley talks to Governor Jay Inslee about Trenta, Helion’s 6th fusion prototype, during a tour of their facility on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
State grants Everett-based Helion a fusion energy license

The permit allows Helion to use radioactive materials to operate the company’s fusion generator.

People walk past the new J.sweets storefront in Alderwood Mall on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Japanese-style sweets shop to open in Lynnwood

J. Sweets, offering traditional Japanese and western style treats opens, could open by early August at the Alderwood mall.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.