????日前有報道稱，零售商百思買（Best Buy ）要求惠普（Hewlett-Packard）回購其庫存的全部未售出平板電腦TouchPad，這個消息來得真不是時候。惠普預定于上周四發布其第三季度財報，盡管TouchPad在該公司全部業務中所占比例極小，但它近來吸引了多方關注。

????禍不單行的是，惠普的核心業務也表現不佳。分析人士下調評級以及競爭對手戴爾（Dell）下調預期之后，惠普的股價于上周三下跌超過4%。

????【上周四下午2點更新：彭博新聞（Bloomberg News）報道，惠普計劃拆分其PC部門，并正在進行談判，欲以100億美元收購軟件制造商Autonomy，以便致力于利潤率更高的企業軟件和服務業務。這一路線與IBM頗為類似，后者也曾是硬件制造商巨頭。該報道發表后，惠普的股價處于波動，截至周四下午2點，下跌了約4.5%。】

????【周四下午三點半更新：惠普表示其計劃宣布公司將停止運營webOS設備，尤其是TouchPad和webOS手機。惠普仍將繼續探索優化webOS軟件價值的方法。】

????看來惠普在TouchPad身上吃了場徹頭徹腦的敗仗。惠普平板電腦的定價與iPad相當，但這樣的價格完全無法與后者競爭。即使惠普不斷打折也無濟于事。據報道，百思買庫存了27萬部TouchPad，但僅僅賣出了不到十分之一，現在百思買希望將剩余的TouchPad退回。

????簡直是太落魄了。五月份的時候，惠普高管還放出豪言，TouchPad最終將超越蘋果（Apple）iPad。不過目前為止，還沒有任何一款平板電腦能夠追上iPad的步伐。

????與此同時，惠普的PC業務也表現不佳。PC業務在惠普營收中占據的份額最大，但就整個行業來看，它的利潤稀薄，銷量也在放緩。PC業務是惠普最不賺錢的業務，正因為如此，惠普一直在探尋利潤更高的業務。從某種程度而言，這也解答了為何當初惠普TouchPad定價過高。

????投資者們都寄希望在周四能聽到來自惠普其它兩大業務——網絡和服務的好消息。作為馬克?赫德（一年前，赫德因為性騷擾丑聞離任）的繼任者，惠普現任首席執行官李艾科指責赫德忽視了上述兩大業務，相比于硬件業務，網絡和服務業務能帶來更高的利潤率。

????但是，李艾科不可能一直把責任推給之前的管理層。上周三下調惠普評級的金融機構BMO Capital分析師凱斯?巴赫曼指出：“……之前的管理層沒有提供（收入）指引，導致三個季度表現不佳”。確實如此。

????譯者：項航

????A report that Best Buy wants Hewlett-Packard to buy back all the TouchPad tablet computers that the retailer is storing, unsold, couldn't have been timed worse. HP is slated to announce its third-quarter results on Thursday, and while the TouchPad makes up only a tiny sliver of the company's business, it has been garnering the most attention recently.

????It doesn't help that HP's (HPQ) core businesses aren't doing so well either. The company's stock fell more than 4 percent on Wednesday after analyst downgrades and grim forecast by PC rival Dell (DELL).

????(Update Thursday 2 p.m.: HP is planning to spin off its PC unit and is in talks to buy software maker Autonomy for $10 billion in order to concentrate on its higher-margin enterprise software and services businesses, Bloomberg News reported. It's a similar trajectory to the one taken by IBM (IBM), also once a hardware powerhouse. HP's stock has been volatile since the news was reported. As of 2 p.m Thursday, it was down about 4.5 percent.)

????(Update 2 Thursday 3:30 p.m.: 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.)

????The TouchPad appears to be a total flop. HP priced it similarly to the iPad, with which it hasn't been favorably compared. A series of discounts hasn't helped much. Best Buy (BBY) has reportedly sold fewer than 10% of the 270,000 TouchPads it has in its inventory, and would like its money back on the rest.

????That's quite a comedown since May, when one HP exec predicted that the TouchPad would eventually overtake Apple's iPad (AAPL). Not that any other tablets are having much luck catching up with the iPad.

????Meanwhile, HP's PC business isn't doing so great either. PCs represent the company's biggest chunk of revenue, but margins are thin and sales are slow industrywide. It's the least profitable part of HP's business, which is why the company is looking around for something with fatter margins -- which may to some degree explain the initial overpricing of the TouchPad.

????Investors on Thursday will be looking for good news in two other areas of business: networking and services. CEO Leo Apotheker has blamed the regime of former CEO Mark Hurd (who was ousted a year ago amid scandal) for neglecting these areas, which offer much better margins than hardware does.

????But blaming past administrations can work for only so long. In downgrading HP on Wednesday, BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman noted that "…previous management did not provide guidance, and then miss for three quarters," as HP has done.