WASHINGTON – Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) on Friday said it has stopped reselling the widely popular Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) iPod portable music players.
"I can confirm we have exited the relationship," Hewlett-Packard spokesman Ryan Donovan said. He could not immediately provide further details.
Hewlett-Packard will immediately phase out sales of the machines through retail distribution partners, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition.
"They've decided that reselling iPods doesn't fit with their company's current digital media strategy," Apple spokeswoman Katie Cotton told the Wall Street Journal.
Apple shares were off $1.15, or 2.6 percent at $42.69 on Nasdaq. Hewlett-Packard shares climbed 24 cents, or 1 percent to $24.74 on the New York Stock Exchange (search).
Former HP Chief Executive Carly Fiorina (search) first announced a deal to resell Apple iPods with great fanfare at a consumer electronics show in January 2004.
HP's Web site currently features links to a range of Apple iPod products, from the hefty 20, 30 and 60 gigabyte iPods to the more compact Shuffle and Mini models.
Under terms of their partnership, Hewlett-Packard resold Apple's popular music players along with "printable tatoos" that allowed consumers to customize the look of their devices with bright colors and shapes using HP printers.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox