Microsoft sees future for ARM-based tablets, but maybe not Windows RT

The rest of the industry may have turned its back on Windows RT, but it looks as if Microsoft isn't prepared to ditch the Windows-on-ARM dream just yet. During an analyst call, Terry Myerson, Microsoft's recently-crowned software chief, seemed to describe RT as a first attempt, which'll be followed up by further devices in the future:

"Windows RT was our first ARM tablet(sic). And as phones extend into tablets, expect us to see many more ARM tablets, Windows ARM tablets in the future."

Now, the language here is a bit strange. Perhaps Myerson is promising more Windows RT tablets -- indeed, he talked up RT 8.1 heavily during the call. Then again, his words could just as easily describe ARM-based tablets that are based on Windows Phone rather than RT -- otherwise why mention phones at all? Using Windows Phone as a tablet OS, or merging RT and WP, would help Microsoft to unify its various platforms and apps -- which just happens to be a primary focus of Myserson's work:

"... we really should have one silicon interface for all of our devices. We should have one set of developer APIs on all of our devices. And all of the apps we bring to end users should be available on all of our devices."

So, who knows, perhaps Windows Phone and RT have a common future? In which case, the idea of Nokia taking charge of this unified drive -- building phones and tablets on the same platform -- sounds a lot more plausible.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Microsoft

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Via: Neowin

Source: Microsoft

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