HP will shut down its TouchPad business over the next few months, but still hopes to make money with the webOS software it acquired when it paid $1.2 billion for Palm last year. "We will be looking at all of the options," Apotheker said. "We will be looking at all possible business models from licensing to any other business model."

After looking at the Q3 numbers, HP decided it would continue to lose money selling the TouchPad, said Lesjak. "To make this investment a financial success would require significant investment over the next one to two years," she said. That was simply too risky for the company.

Earnings for HP's third quarter, ended July 31, were $1.10, on revenue of $31.2 billion, up from $30.7 billion in the third quarter of 2010. Both of those numbers were in line with market expectations. Net earnings were $1.9 billion, up 9 percent from the year-ago figure of $1.8 billion.

HP also confirmed that it will buy analytics software vendor Autonomy for $42.11 per share, a cash deal that some reports have valued at around $10 billion.