HpTablet:Why HP Is Killing Its Phone, Tablet Businesses

Why HP Is Killing Its Phone, Tablet Businesses:
Less than two months after launching what was supposed to be its answer to the iPad, HP shocked the tech world on Thursday with an announcement that it would stop producing tablet computers along with mobile phones, and that it is considering selling off its PC division.The bold change in strategy for the world’s largest computer maker signals a shift away from consumer electronics and toward developing software for large businesses, analysts said. The abrupt change in course comes only a year after HP made a billion dollar commitment to selling smartphones and tablets by acquiring Palm.HP also said that it intends to buy infrastructure software company Autonomy for almost $10 billion, further evidence of its new commitment to wooing large corporations, as it all but abandons its consumer business. HP CEO Leo Apotheker, who replaced Mark Hurd in 2010 after serving as chief executive of enterprise software firm SAP, said in an earnings call that he plans to “transform” HP to focus on the “enterprise information management space.”The news was particularly surprising given that HP is a household name with a strong track record building consumer electronics, yet is now stepping away from the fastest growing area of consumer electronics: mobile.
Analysts explain HP’s shift as a defacto surrender: a tacit admission that Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android mobile operating system have made unshakeable progress into consumers’ pockets that would take too much money and too much time to dislodge -- and would be an endeavor that might ultimately prove fruitless.