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20:36
Microsoft's Windows RT mobile operating system yesterday
lost its final supporter. Dell, whose XPS 10 tablet featured the Windows variant when it was
released in December 2012, announced at its launch event on Tuesday that it
would not be manufacturing a follow-up device.
Neil Hand, head of tablets at Dell, told reporters that
future devices would feature the full version of Windows 8.1, as RT had failed
to "resonate" with consumers. This leaves Microsoft as the only
company still designing devices for its ill-starred OS.
The journey of Windows RT has been short but rocky. It
arrived to mixed reception in late 2012, with its incompatibility with x86
applications and lack of native music player as consistent problems irking
reviewers. Since it's only possible to install apps on RT through Microsoft's
online store, the OS was essentially closed to popular non-Microsoft apps like
iTunes, Chrome and Photoshop, and this lack of flexibility seems to have
damaged the OS' profile among buyers.
It wasn't always so grim. Companies queued up to design
devices for Windows RT in the run-up to its release last year, but Microsoft
kept a tight handle on all partners' development and design processes, and even
required manufacturers to comply to a list of "approved" hardware
components. Multiple partners, like Toshiba and HP dropped out before designs
had even got off the ground.
Since then, things have gone from bad to worse. Acer
planned to release a Windows RT device close to its release, but later changed
its mind. "To be honest, there's no value doing the current version of
RT," said Acer President Jim Wong in May. The company has instead focused
on Windows 8, Android and hybrid devices, with mixed success.
In August, Asus announced that it wouldn't be producing any further RT devices,
calling the OS "not very promising".
In August, industry analysts IDC found that Windows RT
devices made up only 0.2 per cent of tablet shipments in the second quarter of
2013, compared to 1.8 per cent for Windows 8, 14.6 per cent for iOS and 28.2
per cent for Android.
On the plus side, the
Microsoft's latest Windows RT devices, Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2,
released 23 September, are apparently "close to selling out". Whether
or not that's simply because many fewer devices were manufactured this time
round, the new tablets certainly seem to be selling better than their predecessors.
Still, as the lights go out for Windows RT across the
manufacturing world, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will stand by its
sinking OS.
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