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Samsung has cited a lack of demand and limited retail partners behind its decision not to release its Windows RT based products within the US.
The news is yet another setback for Microsoft’s operating system, which it launched just a few months ago.
Samsung’s senior vice president, Mike Abary, confirmed the news to tech site CNET at this year’s CES show, stating it would not be releasing its Qualcomm-based Windows RT devices within the US.
"There wasn’t really a very clear positioning of what Windows RT meant in the marketplace, what it stood for relative to Windows 8, that was being done in an effective manner to the consumer," said Abary.
"When we did some tests and studies on how we could go to market with a Windows RT device, we determined there was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was. And that heavy lifting was going to require pretty heavy investment."
"When we added those two things up… we decided maybe we ought to wait," the VP summarised.
Whilst Abary admitted that a major selling point for Windows RT was that its devices could be priced lower than those using Windows 8, Samsung ultimately found it would need to make sacrifices in other areas, such as less memory, in order to maintain a workable costs.
The news couldn’t come at a worse time for Microsoft, as the firm’s CEO Steve Ballmer joined Qualcomm’s chief executive, Paul Jacobs, on state during the company’s keynote presentation at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas.
Samsung’s decision leaves Microsoft in a potentially awkward position, as Ballmer just days ago, talked up the company’s RT devices and associated partnerships, even highlighting such devices from Dell and Samsung.
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