HP"s decision to dump its webOS business, as first announced on Thursday, was a surprise but also understandable considering that the company announced during its conference call with investors it has been losing tons of money on the division since buying its parent company Palm back in April 2010. But HP truly shocked the industry by announcing it was thinking about spinning off its PC business. HP is still the biggest seller of PCs on the planet.
The announcement has caused Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of HP"s biggest rival Dell, to make a couple of ... interesting ... comments via his Twitter page. One post about the HP PC move was, " ... They are calling it a separation but it feels like a divorce." Dell made an even more snarky comment earlier when he tweeted, "If HP spins off their PC business....maybe they will call it Compaq?" That"s a reference to HP"s purchase of the once massive PC maker Compaq back in 2001.
Ironically, Dell might be one of the companies that would be interested in sweeping in and purchasing the HP PC business. Other PC makers such as Acer (which purchased Gateway a few years ago) and Asus might also make a play for HP"s PC division. Or HP could simply spin off the company on its own while retaining a small stake in the new company.