WOW! HP Kills Tablet, Smartphone and PC Divisions!

Now THIS is BIG NEWS! Hewlett Packard is killing off three of it’s divisions! This may say a LOT about the future! And, by the way, HP WebOS is dead (saw that coming!)

HP Kills Its Tablet, Smartphone, Personal Computer Divisions

“The world’s largest maker of PCs is getting out of the PC business — and ditching its struggling TouchPad tablet device — to focus on the high end server and software markets, the company announce Thursday.
The change is remarkable for the company, which was the top seller in the second quarter of 2011 with nearly 20 percent of the worldwide computer market, according to market research firm IDC. HP’s consumer computer business is also widely credited with introducing the first personal computer way back in 1968.
Dell is the second-biggest maker, with 12.9 percent of the worldwide market. In the U.S., Apple held third place in the second quarter with 10.7 percent of the market (an astonishing 14.7 percent growth over last year).

Though profitable, the business is far less lucrative for HP than its business division. Never fear, HP fans: The company isn’t ending PC sales entirely, just spinning off the computer division. It’s surprising nonetheless, especially for computer users with a head for history: HP made waves in 2002 when it acquired the discount PC business of rival Compaq Computer for a cool $25 billion.

The end of the company’s smartphone and tablet divisions was even more surprising. HP paid $1.8 billion for smartphone maker Palm in 2009, mostly for the webOS software that powered the devices. HP went on to introduce the TouchPad, which has struggled to compete with the iPad and to distinguish itself from among the army of Google Android based gadgets.

HP cut the price for its tablet device in July by 20 percent. On Wednesday, AllThingsD reported that Best Buy was sitting on 270,000 unsold TouchPads — and was hoping the company would buy them back.

The computer giant makes even less of a stir in the smartphone business. The top 5 manufacturers sold three quarters of the world’s smartphones, according to IDC — and HP wasn’t one of them.”