MacRumors

Bloomberg reports that HP is set to announce plans to spin off its PC business in order to focus on cloud-based software and services. The plans come as HP is reportedly looking to acquire enterprise software company Autonomy Corp. for $10 billion.

Hewlett-Packard may announce the plans as early as today, said the people, who asked not to be identified before a statement. The Palo Alto, California-based company is scheduled to report quarterly earnings today after markets close.

Chief Executive Officer Leo Apotheker has said he wants to expand in software and services that help customers deliver computing over the Internet, through the so-called cloud. Hewlett-Packard has been aiming to lessen its dependence on lower-margin PCs, where growth has stalled as consumers flock to tablet-style computers like those made by Apple Inc. (AAPL).

HP has long been a leading PC manufacturer, but has only recently stepped into the mobile market with its acquisition of Palm last year, pushing out several smartphones based on webOS and just last month officially launching its TouchPad tablet. The TouchPad had been regarded as one of the leading potential challengers to the iPad, but sales have reportedly been slow. Today's report does not mention whether HP's mobile efforts will be included in the PC spinoff company or remain with the core HP company.

Meanwhile, PC growth has stagnated or even reversed with weakness in the global economy over the past few years. Apple has, however, been able to maintain strong forward momentum amidst the weak overall market, and has further eaten into PC growth by launching the successful iPad as an alternative to the traditional PC for some customers. Earlier today, research firm DisplaySearch released data showing Apple handily leading the market for mobile PCs when tablets are included.

Update: According to The Wall Street Journal, HP will be exiting the tablet and smartphone hardware business, although it will continue work on webOS and presumably license it out to third-party manufacturers.

As part of Hewlett-Packard's planned spin off of its personal computer business, it will keep the webOS software business but let go of the hardware, meaning H-P is shutting down its tablets business, people familiar with the matter said. H-P's tablet is the TouchPad, an iPad rival that went on sale in July starting at $499. Earlier this month, H-P cut its price 20%.

H-P got webOS when it acquired Palm Inc. in April 2010 for $1.2 billion. H-P may license the webOS software to others, the people added.

Update 2: HP confirms the rumors.

HP also reported that it plans to announce that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG). HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction.

In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.

Research firm DisplaySearch today released the results of its estimates of mobile PC sales for the second quarter of 2011. The study includes both traditional notebooks and tablets, and Apple was able to ride the strength of the iPad to the top of the list with 21.1% of the market on 13.6 million units shipped. Apple comfortably topped second-place HP, which came in at 15% share with 9.7 million units shipped.

The report notes that Samsung and Dell led the way in year-over-year shipment growth among notebook PCs, but that performance was overshadowed by Apple's iPad growth, which saw unit shipments more than double year-over-year.

On the tablet front, quarterly shipments of non-Apple tablets have quickly risen to 5.6 million units, although many manufacturers appear to be having difficulty translating those shipments into actual sales to customers. Overall, tablet shipments were up 70% quarter-over-quarter and 400% year-over-year.

While reports have surfaced claiming that Apple and China Mobile have struck a deal to bring the iPhone to the world's largest mobile phone carrier, the two companies have yet to confirm that such a deal is in place. But according to a new report from Reuters, China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou has confirmed that those talks have included Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The world's largest mobile operator by subscribers said it has met with Apple chief executive Steve Jobs several times on introducing an iPhone based on its home-grown TDSCDMA network standard.

The companies hope to launch an iPhone as soon as possible, China Mobile's Chairman Wang Jianzhou said, without giving any timeframe.

...

"I met Steve Jobs several times already, but we haven't come to an agreement yet," China Mobile's Wang told a news conference. "All I can say is, it's a common wish of China Mobile and Apple to come to an agreement as soon as possible."

Bloomberg also reports that Wang has confirmed that Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook's visit to China Mobile in June was regarding a potential iPhone deal.

The two companies have reportedly also already struck a deal to develop a future iPhone model based on China Mobile's homegrown 4G TD-LTE standard, a variant of the LTE standard that has been said to not be included in the iPhone 5.

China Unicom is currently the only official iPhone carrier in China, although both China Mobile and China Telecom are said to be working hard to strike deals for the device. China Unicom is apparently not sitting still on its current deal, however, as company executives have reportedly recently traveled to the United States to meet with Apple about the iPhone, potentially securing a deal for the upcoming iPhone 5.

Late yesterday, Engadget reported that AT&T will be eliminating its $10/month texting plan offering 1000 text messages, leaving the carrier's unlimited texting plan for $20/month as the only option for new customers. Within hours, an AT&T spokesperson confirmed that the change is coming on August 21st and that existing customers can keep their current texting plans, even when upgrading devices.

Starting August 21, we're streamlining our text messaging plans for new customers and will offer an unlimited plan for individuals for $20 per month and an unlimited plan for families of up to five lines for $30 per month. The vast majority of our messaging customers prefer unlimited plans and with text messaging growth stronger than ever, that number continues to climb among new customers. Existing customers don't have to change any messaging plan they have today, even when changing handsets."

Just this past January, AT&T dropped its texting plan options from three to two by eliminating its $5/200 text and $15/1500 text plans and replacing them with the $10 plan offering 1000 texts. But just eight months later, the company is now doing away with that option as well and pushing new customers into unlimited text messaging plans.

The Santa Monica Dispatch's Peggy Clifford attended yesterday's Santa Monica Planning Commission meeting and reports that Apple's new Third Street Promenade building was quickly approved, without even discussion.

The surprise was that the staff put the project on the Consent Calendar. I cannot remember any large, complex commercial project ever going on the Consent Calendar. Apple was the only item on last night’s Calendar. And, under the rules, the Consent Calendar is approved as a whole – unless someone wishes to pull at item for discussion.

And in that crucial blink, the commissioners approved the Consent Calendar (aka Apple Glass House), and that was that – except for a staff report on the redesign of the Project Case List, after which they adjourned.

The proposal first came to light yesterday, and detailed a new 8,084 glass-roofed Apple Store to be built on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California. The store will be built in the space of an old Borders Bookstore.

One area that Apple has been heavily investing in over the past few years has been in mapping technology and resources. We'd heard a few years ago that Apple was actively recruiting mapping specialists, and the public signs have been considerable since then.

In 2009 and 2010, Apple acquired two mapping companies Placebase and Poly 9. Apple has also been actively recruiting for their "Geo Team" to take their Maps app "to the next level". We've even found evidence that iOS 5 might already have some of the underpinnings to Apple's own mapping solution.

Last week, we saw the first patent application filed by Placebase founder's Jaron Waldman after he began work at Apple. This week, we have found another that's even more interesting.

Jaron Waldman is credited as the inventor for this Apple-assigned patent application which details the use of augmented reality in assisting with directions and finding points of interest.

This concept isn't new, of course, and we've seen a number of Augmented Reality applications appear in the App Store. The basic concept revolves around taking live video using your iPhone and then overlaying relevant information, such as points of interest.

Apple's implementation focuses on searching for a landmark and then getting directions. Here's an example of an existing iPhone app the tries to do similar:

Early Augmented Reality applications have been somewhat clumsy, but seem to show a lot of promise.

Apple files many patent applications each week which means that most never make it into products. Apple's mapping interest, however, has been particularly well known, and we feel there may be a lot coming from Apple in this realm in the near future.

With industry trends clearly moving towards digital distribution, Microsoft will also be making the move with an "App Store" in the upcoming Windows 8. Microsoft introduced the Windows 8 team in a blog post earlier today.

Amongst the different teams listed, Microsoft listed an "App Store" team, seemingly confirming previous evidence from an early Windows 8 screenshot which showed a "Store" button:

Windows 8 is a notable departure from Microsoft's latest desktop operating system, with many interface elements drawing from their Windows Phone 7 platform. The tile-based appearance offers an easy touch interface, while a more traditional desktop interface remains for legacy applications.

Apple has been a strong proponent of the App Store distribution model, moving in that direction faster than its competitors. With OS X Lion, Apple initially launched it as an exclusive App Store download, only offering a USB thumb drive option several weeks later.

Back in February we reported that Apple was making steps towards eliminating boxed software at their retail stores. In late July, Apple discontinued many of their boxed software items, leaving only the digital versions behind.

It's not clear yet if Microsoft will publicly brand their software store as an "App Store", as Apple has not taken kindly of the use of the term by other companies. Microsoft too had opposed Apple's "App Store" trademark application. In retrospect, their motives may have been due to this same intended feature in Windows 8. Microsoft already offers a store for apps called "Marketplace" in Windows Phone 7.

Following today's mysterious downtime for Apple's online stores, users have been scouring the store pages to look for any changes. While the store remains largely unchanged with no major new product offerings, Apple does appear to have made one small change to its Mac Pro model selection page, changing the "select" button for each model into a combination button with a drop-down section allowing users to post a link to the configuration to Twitter or Facebook.

Clicking on the options allows users to customize the postings on either service.

Curiously, the addition has not yet made it to the product pages for Apple's other products, so it is unclear whether Apple is merely running an initial test of the feature with the Mac Pro or if the incomplete roll-out is due to other factors perhaps related to the issues that apparently brought the store down entirely for several hours earlier today.

Apple has been gradually building social features, primarily linked to Facebook and Twitter, into its offerings for some time now. One of the earliest and highest-profile additions came in the form of sharing options in the iTunes Store, launched with iTunes 9 nearly two years ago.

Update: As noted by forum member alex.sebenski, the social links are also present on the iPod classic page.