Samsung may be pulling its Windows RT-running Samsung Ativ Tab from the market in Germany and other areas of Europe because nobody's buying.
Well, the official phrase is probably "weak demand" but it basically boils down to the same thing.
The reports come from German site Heise.de, which cites a Samsung spokesman talking to them at CeBIT as the source.
The spokesperson told the site that Samsung "would no longer provide the tablet in Germany and other European countries", but did not elaborate on which countries those might be.
Auf widersehen, tab
Germany is one of Europe's biggest markets, so if this is true then it's a pretty damning verdict on the success of the Ativ Tab and its Windows 8-alike OS.
For our money, we wouldn't be surprised to see Samsung backing away from Windows RT. First up, it didn't even release the Ativ Tab in the US - as clear a sign as any that it didn't exactly expect it to be a resounding success.
And, as our deputy editor Dan Grabham puts it, there's too much confusion about what Windows RT is.
"The RT version of the Ativ and other models are pleasant enough to use but don't make sense in terms of price point.
"Then there's the added factor that you can't run legacy software on RT. Microsoft told us that this consumer confusion would be dealt with at point of sale, but it hasn't happened and people are walking out of stores with RT devices, confused about what they can and can't do."
We've asked Samsung if their spokesperson is on the money or if the heady atmosphere of CeBIT sent him rogue - we'll let you know when we hear back.
