HP remained the world's top PC maker during the third quarter, according to IDC. The company's PC shipments totaled 16.6 million units, growing by 5.3 percent compared to the previous year's third quarter. After Lenovo, Dell was the third largest PC maker, with the company's PC shipments dropping by 1.6 percent year-over-year.

Looking ahead, Prophet said HP's future PC and tablet strategy revolves around Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 OS. Microsoft has not announced a release date for the OS, but a top Intel executive .

"Obviously the major trends and the most important transition point will be Windows," HP's Prophet said. "We intend and are working to be a leader with Windows 8."

HP will release a Windows 8 tablet in the future, and also ultrabooks with the OS. Ultrabooks are being promoted by Intel as a new category of thin-and-light PCs with tablet-like features.