For now, Dell is finished making Windows RT devices, but that doesn't mean the company is burning the bridge to Microsoft's lagging OS completely.
"We're open to re-introducing a tablet based on RT in the future, but our Dell Venue line-up announced yesterday is comprised of tablets based on Windows 8.1 and Android," Ellen Murphy, a Dell spokeswoman, wrote in an email to TechRadar.
Murphy was referring to the new Venue 7 and Venue 8 Android 4.2.2 tablets Dell introduced during an event in New York Oct. 2 as well as the new Venue Pro lineup of Windows 8.1 machines.
Dell recently stopped taking orders of the Window RT-running XPS 10 tablet/laptop hybrid, prompting speculation it was ditching with the ARM-based OS. For now, that is certainly the case.
The trouble with Windows RT
Murphy's statement comes on the heels of a CNET report in which Neil Hand, vice president of tablets and performance PCs at Dell, said the company was turning its attention to full Windows 8 offerings.
"We are not planning to refresh our current line of RT products," Hand told the site. "We're really focused on full Windows products ... The full Windows experience provides great capability."
Hand said the poorly selling XPS 10 is being phased out, with U.S. inventory already run dry and a global sell out imminent.
RT's struggles can be squared up to a dearth of apps, an inability to perform traditional Windows functions and a rejiggered pricing structure that now makes full-fat Windows 8 machines as affordable as those with Windows RT, Hand and Sam Burd, global vice president of personal computing at Dell, explained to CNET.
"For the same range of price, you can get a full Windows 8 tablet," Burd said.
Windows RT has failed to catch on with consumers and OEMs alike. Currently, Microsoft appears to be the only company committed to making devices housing the OS, though Nokia is rumored to be planning the introduction of a Windows RT tablet during an event Oct. 22.
TechRadar asked Microsoft for comment but a company spokesperson didn't share anything pertaining specifically to Dell's decision or its statements, noting only that "Windows on ARM continues to be an important element of the Windows strategy."
- Read on for our hands on review of the Surface 2, Microsoft's new Windows RT tablet.
