HTC prepping 7-inch and 12-inch Windows RT tablets

Bloomberg heard from its sources that Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC is working on a 7" and 12" tablet with Microsoft's Windows RT operating system. Both products are anticipated to debut in 2013, they're based on Qualcomm chips and the 7" version is said to be able to make phone calls.

HTC’s products, to debut in 2013, will be based on the Windows RT version of Microsoft’s operating system, designed for machines with chips using technology from ARM Holdings Plc (ARM), according to a person familiar with the plans. Delays in those machines, as well as another version running on Intel Corp. (INTC)’s chips, have meant Microsoft has few Windows devices capable of challenging Apple’s iPad.

A 7-inch tablet would be the first of that size for Windows RT, as Microsoft tries to compete with the iPad mini, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7 in the market for smaller, cheaper tablets.

HTC also considered launching Intel-based Windows 8 tablets, but the company cancelled these plans due to the high cost involved. The firm calculated they had to charge around $1,000 for such a device, making it difficult to sell enough volume.