Microsoft's most duopolistic partner may not be terribly excited about the release of Windows RT for ARM-based mobile devices, but plenty of companies not named Intel clearly are.
The software giant's first operating system optimized for ARM-based processors is expected to arrive as part of Microsoft's Windows 8 launch later this year. PCMag asked industry analyst Pat Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights & Strategy, to give us a company-by-company breakdown of what to expect from Microsoft partners when Windows RT arrives.
Here's what Moorhead thinks is shaking in the nascent Windows RT ecosystem.
The Chip Makers
Nvidia is in the lead amongst the handful of chip makers working with device makers to ready Windows RT products at what is rumored to be the October coming out party for Windows 8, according to Moorhead.
"Nvidia is in front for a bunch of reasons. They were the only [chip maker] to show a real, production-ready Windows RT system with one of their partners at Computex," he said. "The Asus tablet is production-ready and Nvidia not only demoed it but they also shared it with members of the press, so they could touch and feel it."
Our own Matthew Murray was only allowed to gaze at and not handle the Windows RT-based Asus Tablet 600 sporting Nvidia's Tegra 3 chip when he visited the graphic chip maker's Computex booth this week. For the record, Murray found the 10.1-inch Tablet 600 less stylish than Asus's lineup of Android tablets but added that "what it lacked in style it made up in utility."
Moorhead said "it makes sense" that Nvidia has raced out ahead of Qualcomm and Texas Instruments in prepping for Windows RT because the company can draw on a long and fruitful relationship with Microsoft.
"Nvidia also has a long-term relationship with Asus and an almost 20-year relationship with Microsoft doing Windows drivers?and not just for graphics, mind you, but also for chipsets when the company used to make them," he said.
As for the rest of the field, Moorhead said Qualcomm, which brought a Windows RT reference design tablet to Computex (pictured above), was "in second place," while the analyst suspected that TI may not even have its processors in any Windows RT devices at launch.
"[Qualcomm] did allow a hands on, but it was a reference design and what that indicates to me is that the devices aren't ready. They'll have dual-core parts at first, whereas Nvidia's got a quad-core solution, which is a sensible fit for a Windows software platform. Qualcomm's [Snapdragon S4] is a pretty powerful dual-core, however," he said.
Moorhead reckoned that TI would likely participate in a later run of Windows RT designs, but may be hampered by a lack of resources to participate in time for the launch of the OS. The analyst also pointed to Marvell and Huawei as silicon players that could turn up with processor platforms for Windows RT as soon as 2013.
"This isn't a sprint. This is going to be a marathon over the next five years. There's room for a lot of jockeying in the Windows RT category," he said.
The Device Makers
Nokia and Asus are the shoo-in candidates to have Windows RT-based products early on, Moorhead said?Nokia because of its tight relationship with Microsoft and Asus because, well, the company already has a Windows RT tablet running on a Tegra 3 chip, as previously noted.
Who else can we expect to embrace Windows RT and when? Moorhead first mentioned a pair of companies that probably won't be early adopters. HTC has reportedly been "locked out" of the initial rush of Windows 8 products for various reasons, while Acer's leadership has indicated it doesn't believe the new OS is ready for primetime, the analyst noted.
What about Samsung? You better believe it, though it's interesting how quiet the South Korean tech giant has been about Windows RT thus far, Moorhead said.
The lack of noise coming from the Samsung camp doesn't necessarily mean the company isn't planning to roll out Windows RT devices, he opined. Instead, Moohead guessed that because Samsung may be "rolling its own silicon" and developing forthcoming Windows RT devices 100 percent internally, the company's been able to keep a tighter lid on gossip and leaks than other firms.
"Samsung is a company that does everything from everybody. They've got every OS running on their phones, up to and including their own Tizen OS. Samsung uses every PC processor that's out there. I expect them to have [Intel] Clover Trail devices running Windows 8 and ARM devices for Windows RT," he said.
Other companies Moorhead expects to have product at the Windows RT launch include Toshiba and Lenovo. He said Dell and Hewlett-Packard probably won't deliver Windows RT tablets until 2013, however.
One of the more intriguing stories to watch on the Windows RT front will be the evolution of the new relationship between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble, Moorhead said. After pledging more than $600 million to help build up Barnes & Noble's Nook ereader and tablet businesses about a month ago, Microsoft now owns a 17.6 percent stake in a newly formed subsidiary of the online retailer.
The Nook tablet currently uses Google's Android mobile operating system but bet on future versions to run Windows RT, Moorhead said.
"I do expect Barnes & Noble to put out a design on Windows RT given the deal that Barnes & Noble and Microsoft put together," he said. "Amazon, on the other hand, I expect to keep riding the Android train and moving [the Kindle Fire tablet] to Android Ice Cream Sandwich by the holidays. I also expect a 10-inch tablet from Amazon around that time in addition to their current 7-inch device."
For more from Damon, follow him on Twitter @dpoeter.
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