SAN FRANCISCO, March 25 (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co

HPQ.N plans to outline its entry into the 3D-printing business by October, as the computing company seeks to extend its dominance of traditional printers into a fledgling but fast-growing market.

Chief Executive Meg Whitman said last week HP would make an announcement in June, now that the company has solved a number of technical problems that have hindered broader adoption of the high-tech manufacturing process. ID:nL2N0MH01H

But in a blogpost updated over the weekend, HP said she had "inadvertently" mis-spoken and that the company was planning instead on making its 3D-printing announcement by the end of the fiscal year, which ends in October. ( http://www8.hp.com/hpnext/posts/qa-martin-fink-what-hp-doing-3d-printing#.UzBm7WXn-M9 )

Whenever it happens, HP's foray could give added momentum to a nascent industry dominated by smaller players like Stratasys

SSYS.O unit Makerbot, and help counter criticism that the sci-fi-like technology is over-hyped and still too immature for widespread consumer adoption.

Whitman said last week HP will focus on 3D-printing for enterprises, rather than the consumer market.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Chang)

((eddie.chan@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 415 677 2533)(Follow Edwin on Twitter @edwininla)(Reuters Messaging: eddie.chan.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: HP 3DPRINTING/