Samsung presses pause on Windows RT tablets (because no one wants them)

Samsung is officially putting its Windows RT plans on ice, at least in the U.S.

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Mike Abary, the head of Samsung’s PC and tablet business, tells CNET that consumer interest in Windows RT devices has been woefully low so far, which is why Samsung won’t launch its own Windows RT devices in the U.S. anytime soon.

The news is not exactly great for Microsoft, which has been heavily pushing the Windows RT agenda with its own Surface tablet. And the last thing the company needs now is less Windows RT support than its gotten so far.

The problem, Abary says, comes in two parts. Not only do customers not seem to know what Windows RT actually is, but retailers say they dont see much of a demand for devices running it. (And I imagine the former is directly tied to the latter.)

“When we added those two things up, […] we decided maybe we ought to wait,” Abary said.

Another part of the problem has been price. Because Windows RT is meant to appear on cheaper devices, Abary says that Samsung was forced to make a lot of feature concessions in order to keep the prices down. That meant lackluster devices, which Samsung wasn’t crazy about.

Samsung isn’t alone in its Windows RT reluctance, either. Both HP and Toshiba have also abandoned plans to make Windows RT devices, leaving the range of products staggeringly low so far.

This, however means less competition for HTC, which is expected to enter the Windows RT tablet market later this year. The same goes for Dell and Asus, which have also tried their hands at creating Windows RT devices