The maker of expensive printer ink, HP, said that a tablet might be a priority for a spun off PC arm. It is starting to look like HP executives see a spun-off PC unit as “offering the best value for shareholders”.

Personal Systems Group head Todd Bradley told Reuters in an interview that tablet computing was "relevant" to the future market for any spinoff. Bradley is planning to lead any spun off company and expects it to be a full-fledged computer maker. Asked if there could be a tablet, Bradley said that was an area that he would be absolutely interested in developing.

Bradley is on a trip to China, Taiwan and South Korea to meet with employees, suppliers, government officials and media to convince them that HP's PC business will continue. HP has been a big player in China. Bradley has promised that HP will increase investments in Shanghai, and over the next three years expand its Shanghai manufacturing base, consolidate six employee sites into one campus, and make Shanghai a regional headquarters in China for the PSG.

Bradley was a former chief executive of Palm and said that he is looking at options for its WebOS operating system. He claimed a number of companies had expressed interest in possibly using WebOS as an operating system, but did not say much about the technology. Word on the street is that HP will take the WebOS away from the PC unit which will probably be forced to pump for Android or Windows. The restructuring however has placed HP a long way behind its rivals in the tablet market.