With the operating-system war for mobile devices in full swing, a new report indicates Microsoft is preparing a version of Windows for devices based on the ARM processor. Such an OS could help the company get into the game for tablets and shore up its position on smartphones.
According to a report that first appeared on the Bloomberg news service, Microsoft is working on an OS optimized for low-power devices that run on chips from ARM Holdings PLC, in addition to x86 chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. The reports, attributed to unnamed sources, indicate the new OS will be discussed by Microsoft at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, although it won’t be available for two years.
‘Only One Step’
Representatives from Microsoft, Intel and ARM declined to comment.
ARM chips are used in many smartphones and in Apple’s iPad. There are already versions of Microsoft Windows that run on such phones, but this could be the most fully featured version for those platforms. Microsoft’s OS has had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Intel chips, but Intel has also been working with Google on its Android open-source operating system, and has codeveloped the new MeeGo mobile OS with Nokia.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, pointed out that just because Windows might be available for ARM processors, it’s not clear to what extent the OS will be optimized for either tablet or smartphone form factors and use cases.
“The main problem with using Windows on a tablet,” he said, “is not battery life, but that the user experience is not optimized” for that style of device. He added that “supporting a chip architecture is only one step” that Microsoft must address if it is to become a major player in tablets.
In fact, Greengart said, “it’s not even…