HP creates iPaq division

HP has given its iPaq handhelds their own business unit, announcing plans on Sunday to separate the product teams for its laptops and handhelds, including the new iPaq hw6900 series.

Dave Rothschild, formerly of Netscape, Pixo and Sun Microsystems will lead the new business unit reporting to Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group. Before Sunday, Ted Clark had presided over the development of both laptops and iPaqs in the Mobility Business Unit, and he will keep control of laptop development in the new organisation, HP said in a press release. Four units now make up HP's Personal Systems Group: handhelds, laptops, desktops and workstations.

HP has continued to develop the iPaqs it inherited as part of the Compaq acquisition as the market for traditional personal digital assistants has declined. Shipments of PDAs have been steadily dropping over the last few years but devices such as Palm's Treo and HP's hw6500 series iPaqs, which blend voice capabilities with contacts, calendars and internet connectivity, are hot sellers.

HP is unveiling a new category of its iPaq wireless handhelds at the 3GSM World Congress conference in Barcelona on Sunday along with Microsoft's new push email software.

The company also plans to report its first-quarter profits on Wednesday.

Tom Krazit writes for CNET News.com