ARM CEO remains optimistic about Windows RT

Sales of Microsoft’s ARM-powered RT Surface tablet have certainly been less-than-stellar, at least thus far. Nevertheless, ARM CEO Warren East remains optimistic about the RISC-friendly version of the Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

“I’m well aware there is a perceived wisdom that RT hasn’t been as successful as lots of people thought it was going be. Quite certainly I’m sanguine about it,” East recently told IDG News on the sidelines of MWC 2013. 

Redmond, says East, is not a company that gives up quickly, and Microsoft can be expected to refine its devices until they meet customers needs. In short, betting against the corporation is contrary to common sense.

“[True], they don’t operate on the ‘wow’ end of the spectrum – [but] think about the volumes they ship,” East added.

“In time it’ll be like it is in the automotive market where at different stages you end up with one or two leaders.

The CEO also commented on ARM’s flagship Cortex-A15 SoC which is currently shipping in a limited number of devices this year like Google’s Nexus 10 tablet. However, East confirmed the chip will power a “wide number” of devices by 2014. 

Meanwhile, the versatile and practically ubiquitous Cortex-A9 chip will live on, as it is inevitably “repurposed” and refined for use in various devices.