Asus Pulls Out Of Windows RT Devices
Asus says it will no longer make systems that run the Windows RT operating system, while Nvidia implies the OS’ problems hurt Tegra sales.
ASUS CEO Jerry Shen spoke with the WSJ citing the reason for the company’s dropping of Windows RT is due to “weak sales” as well as “industry sentiment… that Windows RT has not been successful.” Windows RT getting the boot means ASUS is now able to focus solely on creating Windows 8 devices that will run on Intel chips due to the backwards compatibility that Windows RT lacks.
Shen told the WSJ that Asus is not the only device-maker to have been disappointed with the not-too-heartening response to Windows RT; and added that “the industry sentiment is also that Windows RT has not been successful.”
Windows RT, launched at the same time as Windows 8, is designed to work on ARM-based devices from the likes of Qualcomm and Nvidia and is a pared-down version of Windows 8. Stripping out the desktop and designed for tablets, its biggest problem is that in switching to ARM it had to drop support for many of the software apps people have come to expect from a Microsoft PC.
Microsoft slashed prices for the Surface RT last month due to an inability to move units and wound up taking a $900 million “inventory adjustment” charge associated with the Surface RT in its last fiscal quarter.
As far as Nvidia’s decision is concerned, the chip-maker’s executives have indirectly blamed the lower-than-anticipated sales of Windows RT devices for the precipitous plunge in the company’s revenue from its Tegra chip business.
[Via]
