In spite of the fact that this week Qualcomm became an official supplier of chipsets for Windows RT slates, it appears that this platform is heading more and more towards the end of its life cycle.
Right now all the hardware partners are gone and Microsoft is the only one developing a Windows RT slate, the Surface RT 2. Microsoft is also having trouble on the smartphone market, only reaching a 3% share there, while on the tablet market they’re at a mere 1%. Microsoft has been pushing apps like Outlook and calendar to the Surface RT, they’ve been dropping Surface RT prices in Japan and offering special offers for students, in an attempt to boost the popularity of the platform.
Sources are saying that these moves are in vain and the market share and adoption of Win RT will stay low. Every big company is doing their own thing these days, with Samsung busy with Tizen OS and Android, while they’re totally out of the Windows Phone 8 game, as far as I know. Every once in a while they will release a Windows 8 slate, but that’s it. Acer is also out of the Windows RT area, only releasing some Win 8 slates at Computex, while ASUS may be the wildcard, since they’re always bold enough to explore new formats and platforms.
