Taiwanese electronics maker HTC is planning to make tablets based on the latest Windows operating system. HTC is said to be working on a 12-inch device and a 7-inch version that can also make phone calls, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans. According to the Telegraph, the move would give Windows maker Microsoft another ally in its challenge to Apple and Google in the 63.2 billion dollars market.


HTC’s products, to debut in 2013, will be based on the Windows RT version of Microsoft’s operating system, designed for machines with chips using technology from ARM Holdings Plc (ARM), the paper quoted a person familiar with the plans, as saying. According to the report, a 7-inch tablet would be the first of that size for Windows RT. The move comes as Microsoft tries to compete with the iPad mini, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus 7 in the market for smaller, cheaper tablets, the paper added. -ANI