Hewlett-Packard won't build a tablet computer that will debut with the arrival of Microsoft’s new Windows RT operating system this year, the world’s largest personal computer maker told Bloomberg News Friday.
The news is a setback for the camp of processor designers building chips based on UK design house ARM’s designs.
Earlier this month, Microsoft said Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor will be used in its Surface tablet computer, which will be released in conjunction with Windows RT later this year.
Microsoft will also build a version of Surface using a processor from longtime partner Intel.
At the Computex trade show in Taiwan earlier this month, Toshiba showed off a thin clamshell laptop and tablet based on Texas Instrument’s OMAP processors.
In an email, a spokesperson for TI said it expects the product will be available with the launch of Windows RT.
On Wednesday, Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said his company’s processors will be used in an upcoming Windows RT tablet, although he declined to reveal the name of the manufacturer in an interview with Forbes.
Microsoft’s Windows software has long run on so-called x86 processors designed by Intel and AMD.
In January of 2011, however, Microsoft announced last year that it is working with Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments to put a version of its Windows operating system on computers powered by the ARM-based processors now used in mobile phones and tables.
