H-P faces a potentially painful exit from PCs

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Hewlett-Packard, the undisputed king of the personal computer market, now wants out of PCs.

But analysts say the planned exit could be painful, even chaotic, especially since H-P came out this week saying it was thinking about the move — before having any clear idea how to pull it off.

One analyst speculated that the Palo Alto, Calif. technology giant may not even do it in the end. Another said the way the company laid out the plan is so potentially disastrous, that the most viable path is for the PC division to be spun out under the leadership of its well-regarded head, Todd Bradley.

In any case, the confusion was evident in H-P shares which plummeted more than 20% on Friday to their lowest level in six years. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/h-p-faces-a-potentially-painful-exit-from-pcs-2011-08-19

Well you sure don't want to tell people you're getting out of the PC business
unless you're pretty darn sure you ARE getting out of that business.

It tends to be self-fulfilling. Who is going to buy an HP PC now?

...and Best Buy still has around 250,000 of the things.

Fire sale, anyone?