Hewlett-Packard (HP) dropped a bomb yesterday announcing that it is axing the TouchPad just 30 days after its release.

The TouchPad was going to be HP’s savior against shrinking PC sales in the enterprise. Not only did HP kill the TouchPad, it also announced that it is getting out of the PC business as well sending shares of HPQ down 20%.

The winner in all this is Apple. Another one of its competitors capitulates.

What is funny is that about a year ago, HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion and announced that it had major plans to integrate Palm’s webOS across their entire product line which includes PC and tablets.

The plan was to compete with Apple. Now, HP realizes that it much harder to compete with Apple because it involves making the hardware, software, integrating them, selling them and support. Hence, HP is exiting the tablet business and taking a $100 million charge to credit Best Buy and other resellers for their unsold inventory.

All this must be music to folks at Apple as their competitors do the dumbest things to be like them.

HP is one of many companies in many sectors that are becoming road kill as the iPad proliferates.