Posted on Wednesday, January 30 2013 @ 15:24 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes
heard from sources at Taiwanese PC makers that Windows RT tablets are hard to sell. The sources say about two million Windows RT tablet shipped globally, significantly less than the 4-4.5 million units originally expected to be shipped as of the end of 2012, and actual sales are estimated to be less than one million units.
Since Microsoft announced Surface in mid-2012, some partners gave up plans to develop Windows RT tablets, resulting in the launch of Surface RT and only several other Windows RT tablets developed by Asustek Computer, Samsung Electronics, Lenovo and Dell, the sources pointed out. Sales of all other Windows RT tablets are estimated at about 4000,000 units, short of original expectations, the sources indicated.
The far below originally expected sales performance for Windows RT tablets is mainly because a large number of applications are not compatible with Windows RT and sales prices are relatively high, the sources said. Since Microsoft will ship the Windows 8-based Surface Pro soon, prices for Surface RT are likely to be lowered to clear inventories, the sources noted.
