Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) May Be Exacting Revenge on Dell Inc. (DELL) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

We may be seeing the first wave of ramifications for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)‘s decision to invest in the planned privatization of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL).

ReadWrite, The Verge, and other tech blogs are reporting that Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) is ready to throw its weight behind Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)‘s Android as its operating system of choice for a new line of mobile devices.

The Android love will start with a high-end tablet. That makes sense, but the sources also say that HP is exploring putting out Android-fueled smartphones.

One can argue that this has nothing to do with Microsoft committing to $2 billion in the roughly $24 billion deal to buy out a meandering Dell. However, since so many people have argued that Microsoft was making this investment to have a say in keeping Dell from embracing Android — and Microsoft is already paying billions to Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) to support Windows Phone as its mobile operating system of choice — could this be HP’s way of lashing out for not winning Mr. Softy’s billions?

It’s still a smart move on HP’s behalf. HP has thrown Android a few bones in recent years, but it was held back as it tried to make webOS work after its $1 billion acquisition of Palm.

However, as computing devices embrace Android while traditional Windows-powered PCs wane in popularity, the only real question here is why HP didn’t throw more support behind the open-source Android juggernaut sooner.

HP is struggling, and investors will get a glimpse of that when the world’s largest PC supplier reports next week. Analysts see revenue and earnings sliding 8% and 23%, respectively. Making another run at mobile devices won’t make HP the next Samsung, but it will provide welcome diversification if Microsoft’s market dominance continues to fade.

The article HP May Be Exacting Revenge on Dell and Microsoft originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rick Aristotle Munarriz.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google and Microsoft.

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