SAN FRANCISCO - HEWLETT-PACKARD Co's quarterly profit dropped 17 per cent on lighter sales in two key areas, personal computers and printer ink, in a sign that the woes in consumer technology spending have dragged on beyond the miserable holiday season.

The company also said an additional 6,400 workers, or 2 per cent of HP's 321,000-employee work force, will lose their jobs over the next year.

The cuts will be on top of the 24,600 jobs HP was already dumping as part of its acquisition of Electronic Data Systems, a technology services provider HP bought for US$13.9 billion (S$20.4 billion) last year to mount a bigger challenge to IBM Corp.

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