HP’s head of Personal Systems Group (PSG) for the UK and Ireland has released a statement denying that the firm has said it will exit the PC hardware business.
In comments that are designed to ease any worries customers may have over HP’s trio of announcements made last week, Paul Hunter said no decision has been made on the future of PSG.
"I’d like to firstly clear up any misunderstanding that has arisen from the earnings announcement around the future of the Personal Systems Group. There have been a number of incorrect stories saying that HP is quitting the PC business," he said.
"Let me be absolutely clear in saying that at no stage has HP said it is quitting the PC business. Three options are being investigated, and whether the company is spun off, sold or kept in the HP portfolio, the team in the UK remains committed to creating and supporting great products and services."
While Hunter might be right in that HP is yet to confirm the future for PSG it seems clear that Apotheker wants to get rid of it; two of the three options for PSG involve HP getting out of the PC hardware business. The company is looking to move towards higher margin software and services, like rival IBM did a number of years ago.
"HP is the world’s largest PC manufacturer. We are the number one PC manufacturer in UK and Ireland. HP PSG UK is only going in one direction, forwards and that means customers can have confidence that existing HP products will be supported under the terms of their warranties as will any future purchases," Hunter added.
Hunter also said that the company will continue to support webOS, even though it will no longer develop hardware for it and has discontinued its TouchPad tablet. "All webOS products will be supported and HP fully intends to support the future development of the webOS platform, though again how that will be managed is still under discussion," he said.
His statement added: "Another obvious question is why has HP decided to stop supporting webOS hardware devices. Due to market dynamics, significant competition and a rapidly changing environment, continuing to execute our former device approach was not in the best interest of HP and HP shareholders. HP is fully committed to the ongoing support and service of customers who purchased webOS devices."
"I apologise that we have been slow to answer some of the questions around webOS. The sheer scale of interest in the discounted products took us a little by surprise. We are now working on ensuring everyone that owns a webOS device has a positive experience," Hunter concluded.
