Samsung Said To Plan Windows RT Tablet For October Introduction
Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the largest phone maker, will release a tablet that features Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Windows RT software when the operating system debuts, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung's reported Windows RT tablet lands in the middle of a delicate moment for Microsoft's tablet strategy. In June, The Wrap reported that Microsoft was building its own iPad-rivaling tablet, putting the software maker in direct competition with the hardware partners it needs — and Bloomberg now says Samsung intends to be on shelves with an RT device when the OS debuts in October.
For Samsung, the move extends a tablet push that began with its plan, reported in December 2011, to beat Apple to market with a Retina-resolution tablet. It comes weeks after Judge Lucy Koh's preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus failed in late June, leaving Samsung free to press new products into the U.S. market. The story traveled unusually wide for a rumor — pickups at ZDNet, Gizmodo, the Telegraph, SlashGear and four more outlets within a day.
First-order effects
- Samsung would enter the October Windows RT launch window as one of Microsoft's founding ARM hardware partners, gaining early shelf presence in a tablet category where it has so far competed only on Android.
- Microsoft gets a flagship device from the world's largest phone maker for the RT debut, softening the optics of its reported first-party tablet plans.
Second-order effects
- Other ARM-licensee OEMs face a launch-window decision: follow Samsung onto RT at day one or cede the initial marketing beat — and any OEM hesitation is sharpened by the prospect of competing with Microsoft itself in hardware.
- The move pressures Samsung's own Android tablet line, forcing it to position two operating systems against Apple's iPad and against each other in the same retail channel.
Third-order effects
- If Samsung ships RT at launch while Microsoft sells its own tablet, the traditional Windows licensing arrangement — Microsoft supplies software, partners supply all hardware — comes under visible strain, pushing the industry toward the vertically integrated model Apple has used to dominate tablets.
- A successful Samsung RT device would also deepen Samsung's chip business logic: the company is already challenging Intel for the No. 1 semiconductor spot on mobile logic growth, and ARM-based Windows devices add another volume driver for that bet.
The trend: The PC-era division of labor between Microsoft and its hardware partners is being tested as Windows RT launches with Samsung as anchor OEM while Microsoft reportedly builds first-party tablets.