That could reflect the fact that the humble PC might actually have a brighter future than printers, something that seemed unthinkable seven years ago when IBM had just sold its PC business to Lenovo.

"The problem is, this is just a trailing-edge business," said Endpoint Technologies analyst Roger Kay. "Printer sales are declining, ink sales are declining, people just don't print as much any more."

The iPad and the Kindle have made it easier than ever to read documents electronically, he noted, and technologies that allow people to sign documents electronically, from DocuSign and others, have removed a big hurdle to doing away with the printed page.

"The growth just isn't there, and as HP looked out in the future, I think they're not seeing it there either," Kay said.

Printer ink remains one of the most profitable parts of HP's business, but sales in its Imaging and Printing Group have been declining. They totalled US$25.8 billion last year, a billion dollars less than in fiscal 2005. Over the same period, sales at HP's Personal Systems Group increased about 30 percent, to $39.6 billion.