If you are confused about HP's (NYSE: HPQ) newest business strategy, you are not alone. For businesses that need to plan their investments carefully, HP is making itself a tough target, writes Bill Snyder at InfoWorld.

"In less than a month, Hewlett-Packard and its CEO, Léo Apotheker, have managed to confuse customers, investors, retailers, developers and component makers. It's no wonder that the company has lost nearly a quarter of its value in August. What a mess," he writes.

A little over two weeks ago, HP's Apotheker announced that he planned to lead the company away from the PC business and get out of the WebOS device business. However, it turns out that the company might keep its fingers in the PC pot by spinning the division off, and it might give up on WebOS altogether.

"Although WebOS certainly seems dead, HP won't come out and say that, but instead implies it has a future," Snyder writes. "How's that for confusing? We're killing the TouchPad and other WebOS devices, but maybe somebody else will pick it up, so why don't you developers hang around. Fat chance," he adds.

The announcements a couple weeks ago were not a paragon of clarity, but this week things got even more confusing when the company said it is temporarily sticking with the TouchPad. Snyder questions whether this is serving as an apology to component suppliers, who are likely feeling confused themselves. 

"The speed of these developments is astonishing. HP trotted out its WebOS strategy some seven months ago. The TouchPad launched just two months ago. What's next?" he asks. 

Offering the perspective of a sampling of large enterprises, The Wall Street Journal's Ben Worthen reports on companies that are backing away from HP. As Fluor Corp. CIO Ray Barnard puts it, "It appears that they're lost right now."

For more:
- see Bill Snyder's post at InfoWorld
- see Ben Worthen's article at The Wall Street Journal

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