A historic turning point is approaching in the world of technology. Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest computer maker, has put an end to the creation of its tablet (TouchPad, unsuccessfully launched in June to fight the iPad) and could soon also exit the business of PCs and smartphones based on WebOS .
The decision is part of a general plan to move away from the consumer market, now populated by too aggressive competitors. The excessive power conquered by Apple (which in China it surpassed Lenovo) and the recent one Google's acquisition of Motorola have sent out a very clear signal in this sense.
The new giants are now invincible. For this reason, HP is thinking of moving its field of action to the more limited area of software. The recent acquisition of the British Autonomy, specialized in the production of the "Cloud" software, goes in this direction. Price: $11,7 billion. This is the third largest acquisition in HP's history.
The company "is at a critical point in its existence - explained the managing director, Leo Apotheker - and these changes are fundamental for the success we all want".
The Californian company also communicated the financial statements data for the third fiscal quarter. Profits were 1,93 billion dollars, 9% more than the 1,77 billion recorded in the same period last year. The bad news, however, comes from the turnover forecasts for the whole of 2011, revised downwards from 129,12 to 127,2-127,6 billion.
