Asus VivoTab
Last month, Microsoft surprised a lot
of investors when it announced that it had to write off $900 billion
mostly because of poor Surface RT sales. It seemed like out of the
few people who actually bought a Windows tablet from the company,
most opted for the full Surface Pro, running Windows 8. Still,
Microsoft has reaffirmed its commitment to Windows RT and plans to
keep shipping updates and new versions of the lower OS version aimed
at ARM processors. However, in the end the decision may be forced
onto it.
In the biggest Asian computer show,
Computex Taipei, not a single company showed off a new Windows RT
tablet. And now, it appears Asus is the latest device maker to
officially announce that it would no longer be making tablets with
this version of Windows on it. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal,
Asus said that it had lost money with its Windows RT tablets, and so
it had to discontinue any new product in those lines. Instead, it
will focus on Intel tablets running the full Windows 8.
It’s not a big surprise that consumers
shy away from RT. Even though both systems have the same user
interface, none of the traditional Windows software runs on the RT
models. Only the modern apps, created especially for Windows 8’s new
start screen, will also run on the ARM tablets. This may also support
the hints that few developers are interested in making Windows 8
modern UI apps, and instead focus is still on traditional desktop
software. Still, Microsoft says that it remains committed to RT, and
they announced a new version of the Surface tablet, so if you really
do like RT, there are still options out there.
