HP to exit tablet and PC business. Hewlett Packard has confirmed plans to stop making PCs, tablets and phones, in order to refocus on software. It has also emerged that the US company has agreed to buy UK software firm Autonomy for £7.1bn ($11.7bn).


HP added that it was considering selling its personal systems group, which includes the world’s biggest PC-making business, and that it will discontinue its webOS devices.

The webOS operating system is used in its tablet computers and smartphones. The announcements mark a significant U-turn for the company, which announced in a March strategic review that it would integrate webOS into all of its future hardware.

HP had launched its Pre smartphone as a competitor to the iPhone and devices based on Google’s Android operating system. However, WebOS failed to gain traction with reviewers, operators and retailers. The decision to ditch the Pre, as well as its TouchPad tablet computers, comes despite paying $1.2bn (£727m) last year to buy up the technology through its acquisition of Palm.