HP job cuts already underway at Palm

HP has begun laying off staff at its Palm division as part of plans which could see as many as 525 employees axed.

In a statement sent to V3, HP confirmed that the job losses had come as a result of its decision to "discontinue the development of webOS devices" in Q4 2011. 

"As part of this decision, the webOS group is undergoing a reduction in workforce in the US," the statement continued.

"We cannot comment on the impact in Europe until we have consulted with the appropriate employee representative bodies. We will work to redeploy employees from the webOS team in Europe into other roles within HP where possible."

Reports have suggested that over 500 posts could be axed.

HP announced plans during a quarterly earnings call last month to consider spinning off the Personal Systems Group and end the webOS device line.

The vendor debuted its long-awaited webOS-based TouchPad tablet in February, but it was poorly received and sales picked up only after major price cuts.

WebOS was originally developed by Palm, which HP bought last year for $1.2bn, and HP has said that it will continue to operate webOS for the time being.