Samsung Readying Windows RT Tablet – Report

Samsung is set to launch a tablet based on the Windows RT operating system when it debuts this October, according to a new report.

A person with “knowledge of the matter”, claimed that the Korean manufacturer had built a handheld computer running the platform, the first version of Windows to be designed to support ARM processors, which are used in many mobile devices.

Windows RT is part of Microsoft’s bid to command to a greater share of the tablet market and claims that Windows 8 will work equally well on both desktops and tablets.

Against the surface

Intel has struggled to convince consumers to purchase mobile devices based on its chips as they use far more power than those built by ARM. Traditional PCs run x86 chips made by Intel and AMD, but the decision to create Windows RT, has opened the door for manufacturers such as ARM, Qualcomm and Nvidia.

The news is a boost for Microsoft after HP announced that its tablets would run Windows 8 instead of Windows RT. HP apparently lost interest in ARM-based Windows tablets, following the announcement that Microsoft was going to make its own ARM-based tablet, the Surface, a development which is expected to anger its OEM partners.

Microsoft hopes that the Surface, which will also be released running Windows 8, will lead the Windows tablet charge against the market-leading iPad. It is being marketed as a complete PC workstation in the form of a tablet, but rumours have suggested that it won’t ship with 3G, but have the “best Wi-Fi available” instead.

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