MIAMI – Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive officer, took center stage recently to unveil a slew of new products including an Apple iPod clone, an entertainment-based laptop, beefed-up printers, flat-screen televisions and projectors.

HP sees a technology revolution revolving around digital content and the various devices now used to manage music, photos and video converging into one. For consumers, this means easy-to-use devices that could eventually be very affordable as competition brings prices down.

The other big HP news is that it will begin selling its own version of the Apple iPod and its new computers will come with Apple’s iTunes Music jukebox and music store software preloaded.

HP is now taking orders online at www.hpshopping.com for its new digital music player, which has been dubbed as the “Apple iPod from HP.” The product is a replica of Apple’s latest models of the popular white 20-gigabyte and 40-gigabyte iPods that retail for $299 and $399, respectively.

HP also is releasing about two dozen other new consumer products, including a 42-inch plasma screen television and an all-in-one home theater projector. The prices will range from $2,000 to $5,000. Apple and HP had announced a partnership in January and the iPod clone is the first venture under that deal.

Fiorina said that HP recognized Apple’s innovation in the iPod and decided it was better to license Apple’s technology and design rather than develop its own version.

One innovation for the HP iPod will be tattoos, or skins, that can be used to personalize iPods with images from recording artists or art created by the user.

While the tattoos will be free at HP’s Web site starting in mid-September, the company will be selling the paper needed to create these stickers.

Being accepted by consumers, especially that 18- to 24-year-old group that has been raised on technology, might be the biggest challenge HP faces, analysts said.

HP showed a prototype of a new device, the DJammer, that’s being designed for club deejays. The wireless device allows a deejay “to interact with the music from anywhere in the club,” says O’Connor who can scratch, and change the tempo and pitch of the music he’s playing from anywhere in the club.

“It has a large “wow’ factor.”

With PC penetration at a peak, Michael McGuire, research director for Gartner Group in San Jose, Calif., says computer manufacturers have to evolve. They need to develop products that will help people acquire and manage digital content.

The next wave in the digital revolution is this “race into the living room,” McGuire said.

This holiday season, every computer equipment manufacturer will be offering products similar to the digital entertainment centers HP has launched hoping to tap into this trend.

HP was mum about the prices for some of its new products such as its HP digital home entertainment center, which combines the brains of a PC with a DVD player, burner and removable data storage. This product will be on the market in mid-October.

The company also didn’t disclose the price tag of its new entertainment notebook, which carries HP’s new technology, Quick Play, which allows users to turn on the DVD player without having to boot up the Windows operating system.

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AP-NY-08-27-04 2003EDT