Offline backup is a fallacy
The article didn't say, but will HP be ensuring that users can get access to their data for a sensible time (eg for 5 years) after they stop selling it to new users?
It rings the death nell for ALL offline backup services, not just HPs, because if you can't rely on your offline backup facility to STILL be in business when you need to access the data, then you don't actually HAVE a backup service.
What you have is merely something which (probably) charges you money and provides a false sense of security, and which has turned into Write-Only memory when you most need it a few years later.