HP Kills TouchPad, Support for webOS Devices

Hours after news broke that Hewlett-Packard was considering a spin-off of its PC business, the company also said that it will discontinue support for webOS devices, including the TouchPad tablet.

The move also affects webOS-based smartphones, though the company said "HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward."

HP  the TouchPad, as well as the Veer and Pre 3 smartphones, in February. The tablet came out earlier this year, but has struggled in the market. News broke this week that Best Buy was of TouchPads that it could not sell; HP also the tablet by $100.

Just last month, it planned to take webOS "global" by naming Steven DeWitt, the head of HP's PC business in the Americas, to lead the WebOS business. Jon Rubinstein, the man who led webOS, was also shifted to senior vice president for product innovation within HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG), which oversees its PCs. In June, HP also , paring down some of its top management.

HP today said it was , including a spin-off or other transaction, and would purchase Autonomy for $10 billion.

The demise of webOS, meanwhile, comes a little more than a year after for $1.2 billion. At the time, HP said Palm's webOS would allow it to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.

In a Thursday note to investors, Ticonderoga Securities analyst said HP dumping its PC business and shutting down webOS could be positive in the long term, but will not change the near-term challenges.

The move is also just one year shy of Leo Apotheker's one-year anniversary as HP's CEO. He was announced as Mark Hurd's successor last September and took over the role in November. At the time, he to make software more of a focus at HP going forward, though he had few details about how that might play out.

For more on the TouchPad, meanwhile, see  and the slideshow above.

Also check out and as well as .