Samsung to Release Windows 8 RT-Based Tablet PC

Samsung is reportedly working on a Windows 8-based tablet computer that will be ready for the new Microsoft operating system's (OS) launch in October, 2012.

The device will reportedly utilize the mobile version of the OS, called Windows 8 RT, and will run on the speedy ARM chip architecture.

The report on Samsung's plan to introduce such a tablet for this fall's Windows 8 launch comes from Bloomberg news, which cites "people with knowledge of the matter" as the source. (Source: bloomberg.com)

Samsung Product Seen As Good News for Microsoft

The news of Samsung's new tablet should help consumer confidence in Windows 8 RT, particularly after Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced last week it would not release a tablet running Microsoft's new mobile OS.

Observers expect HP to wait until an upgraded version of Windows 8 begins shipping with tablet computers in 2013.

If Bloomberg's report is accurate, Samsung's decision may also indicate that some of Microsoft's hardware partners are coming to accept the Redmond, Washington-based firm's decision to release its own tablet, called "Surface," later in 2012.

Following Surface's unveiling, reports circulated that several of Microsoft's hardware partners, including HP, Samsung, and Acer (among others), were angry over this development because it meant Microsoft would start competing directly with them in the hardware arena.

Microsoft CEO Unapologetic

Despite the possibility that Microsoft had just offended key industry allies, the company's chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer, offered no apologies for Surface.

"We had to make sure that we had a piece of hardware that was unique in its ability to be that leading-edge hardware that really showed off Windows 8," Ballmer noted.

"But Surface is just a design point; it will have a distinct place in what's a broad ecosystem. And the importance of the thousands of partners that we have that design and produce Windows computers will not diminish." (Source: informationweek.com)

So far, the retail prices of both Samsung's tablet and Microsoft's Surface remain unspecified.