RIP TouchPad, Pre: HP Confirms WebOS Division Lay-offs

This shouldn't come as a surprise.

HP's webOS division is having a tough time as of late. The company recently announced that it was axing its TouchPad and Pre line of tablets and smartphones and sold off all remaining stock in a huge fire sale. Since then, the future of webOS remains unclear. While HP said it would continue to develop webOS, it admitted that it was stopping development on webOS hardware. Today, HP confirmed that it's trimming the fat in the webOS division.

"As communicated on August 18, HP will discontinue the development of webOS devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ends Oct. 31, 2011," the company told AllThingsD today. "As part of this decision, the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in workforce. Today’s actions are part of this initiative. During this time, we stand by our commitment to our webOS customers and will work to ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected. HP is exploring ways to leverage webOS software."

HP has not specified how many people will lose their jobs but the number is rumored to be somewhere in the region of 500 people. AllThingsDigital cites sources close to the situation that say HP is preparing to lay off 525 people. HP has one final production run on TouchPads before it discontinues the development of webOS devices and winds down device operations within its fourth fiscal quarter.