This is the latest chapter in the sad saga of a declining HP, which new CEO Meg Whitman is now looking to reverse.
The market is unquestionably difficult, with only a few leaders and many producers stuck in a race for low prices and commodity products.
HP has had many missteps in this space, from buying and investing in PC and tablet technology from Palm, launching new products, killing them swiftly, announcing and then 90-days later renouncing their desire to exit the PC market, and the associated departure of its former CEO.
For HP, this is a critical inflection point in a key market. When market dynamics change for big companies, bold steps may be required. Kodak never recovered from a dramatic technological shift (read about Kodak here), and the risk for HP is that if they do not find a way to regain leadership then the path for a big commodity producer in a changing market can get very ugly.