HP may be looking to stimulate growth in its printing and imaging group, which saw revenue decline more sharply in the last quarter than some other divisions. Revenue from the group dropped 23 percent in the last quarter to US$5.9 billion, compared to a drop of 3 percent in revenue for HP as a whole.

Printing services are a big opportunity for HP, said Gilles Biscos, president at Interquest, a research and consulting company in Charlottesville, Virginia. Some areas of the printing business, such as billing and the production of legal documents, have been relatively unaffected by the rise of the Web, and there remains a big market in helping companies to find ways to cut their printing costs.

Large companies could potentially save money by consolidating copiers, fax machines and multifunction printers, Biscos said. Simple steps like shutting down printers when they are not in use and printing on both sides of pages can dramatically cut costs, he said.