Nokia Corporation is rumored to be testing out a new tablet based on Windows RT. According to DigiTimes, Nokia will be demoing the tablet at Mobile World Congress in February. DigiTimes reported that Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Compal Electronics are resuming the development of a Nokia Windows RT tablet. The Nokia tablet has been rumored to be in development for a while, but it was delayed after Microsoft announced the Surface tablet.
Taiwanese company Acer has delayed launching tablets that run on Microsoft Windows RT. This way Acer can monitor how well Microsoft’s own Surface tablets go. Acer is the number 4 PC vendor based on shipments. Acer’s Windows RT tablets is based on ARM Chips earlier next year.
Lenovo Group, the second larger PC manufacturing company, said that devices that run on Microsoft’s Windows RT software will cost $200-$300 less than devices built on Windows 8 software. Microsoft will be releasing Windows 8 and Windows RT in October.
The ARM-version of Office 2013 Home and Student will be bundled with Windows RT devices. Even though Microsoft has not officially confirmed it, word on the streets is that the ARM version of Office 2013 will not have macros, third-party add-ins, or VBA support. A “small number” of additional features will not be available on the ARM-version of Office 2013 according to sources with The Verge.
Samsung will be releasing a handheld computer that runs on the Windows RT operating system in October according to sources with Bloomberg. The Windows RT handheld computer will run on technology made by ARM Holdings Plc (ARM).
After Microsoft Corporation announced that Windows RT, many people believed that they would change around their pricing model for OEMs. However Microsoft is asking for almost as much money for Windows RT from OEMs as Windows 7 Home Premium. This will make it difficult to offer tablets at competitive prices when selling them against Android tablets. When VR-Zone talked to multiple vendors at Computex Taipei, they had discussed pricing options for Windows RT versus Android from Google. It was rumored that Microsoft would offer Windows RT for a price of around $35, but in actuality the company is asking for $80-$95.
Windows RT (RT is for runtime) will be a version of the Windows operating system for ARM device like tablet computers with a touch screen interface will only run software available through the Windows Store or included in Windows RT. Google and Mozilla are not happy with this because they believe that they will be locked out. Mozilla said that Microsoft is preventing them from bringing a competitive version of Firefox to Windows RT. Other browsers will not get the same access to the same operating system abilities that IE10 gets. Google has also given their opinion on the issue in the statement below:
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