HP to sell off PC division

HP has said that it will be ending production of its PCs in order to concentrate on making business software.

The company is also pulling all of its WebOS devices off the market, including the newly released HP Touchpad tablet computer.

According to The Washington Post, the company, formerly known as Hewlett Packard, will cease production of its smartphones and tablet computers in October.

This is a significant change in direction for HP, which announced in March that it would integrate WebOS into all future hardware products and last year spent £727m acquiring Palm, the company that created WebOS.

Some industry watchers have said that HP's inability to compete with Apple in tablet computers was a factor in the decision. Brian Marshall, an analyst for Gleacher & Co, said that Apple has "single-handedly knocked HP out of the PC, tablet and smartphone business".

As well as getting out of mobile devices, HP will also be considering selling its PC-making business, although no potential buyers have been named.

In 2010 HP was the world's biggest-selling computer-maker. According to website Ars Technica, the company's PC division made around $500 million profit in the last quarter on around $10 billion worth of sales.

At the same time HP announced that it had agreed to buy the British business software company, Autonomy, for £7.1bn.

Click here to read our editor's blog on the HP announcement