According to a new report by IDC, a research analyst group, Microsoft should forget about Windows RT and focus its efforts on Windows 8 instead. In fact, IDC believes that a 100% focus on Windows 8 would allow for a better growth of tablet market share for Microsoft.
“Microsoft’s decision to push two different tablet operating systems, Windows 8 and Windows RT, has yielded poor results in the market so far. Consumers aren’t buying Windows RT’s value proposition, and long term we think Microsoft and its partners would be better served by focusing their attention on improving Windows 8. Such a focus could drive better share growth in the tablet category down the road,” said Tom Mainelli, Research Director for tablets at IDC. Interestingly enough, IDC believes that both iOS and Android will have to give away some of its market share to Windows-based tablets as the research group believes that Windows 8 will grow from a 1% market share in 2012 to nearly 7.4% market share in 2017. In the mean time, Windows RT will remain below 3% by 2017. For those that don’t know, Windows RT is a special version of Windows 8 that’s designed to run on mobile devices powered by the ARM platform, which allows for less power to be consumed and thinner hardware designs. While Microsoft may not be too happy to hear this type of criticism from IDC, perhaps IDC has a point. A focus strictly on Windows 8 could allow for an increase in market share, especially when it comes to the tablet category. This begs the question, should Microsoft keep Windows RT in its line-up or simply move on?
