Kitguru has published several editorials in the last week detailing poor Microsoft tablet sales and the fact that CEO Steve Ballmer has decided to axe the price of the RT models, in the attempt to increase sales. Asus chairman Jonney Shih has spoken to AllThingsD to say that they won't be producing any Windows RT tablets running on ARM chips.
Shih has said that ASUS will be focusing their time and resources to producing devices that run on Intel processors. He said ‘The result is not promising', refering to the reported problems with Surface RT and Asus VivoTab RT.
He stressed that people use a lot of classic Windows software and applications. He also said that Microsoft made other mistakes, noting that one of the most popular applications for Windows 8 is a program to bring back the Classic Start Menu. Microsoft have accepted this omission is causing a lot of people problems and are bringing back a Start button in Windows 8.1.
This is the last thing Microsoft will be wanting to hear from such a key partner, especially as reports show their Windows RT tablets have cost the company money, rather than making a profit.
Kitguru says: Many believe Microsoft should stick with creating software. The Surface RT may follow in the wake of the Zune and other Microsoft hardware disasters. Perhaps the recent price drop will improve global Surface RT sales.