Both of them will be released next year, during CES or MWC 2013

Dec 21, 2012 09:27 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft was very selective about which companies were allowed to make Windows RT tablets in the first wave, but the decision somewhat backfired, leading to HTC's permission to join the part.

HTC plans to release two tablets running the Windows RT operating system, or Windows for ARM, as it is otherwise known.

That alone isn't enough to dispel the ambiguity shrouding the opening sentence though. It takes a longer story to do that.

It started with Microsoft's Surface tablet. The corporation didn't want to allow too many other Windows RT tablets on the market at first, so it made a very short list of companies allowed to launch such items.

Dell, Lenovo, ASUS and Samsung tried their hand. Toshiba made overtures too, but it had to scrap the plans because it didn't finish them on time.

Overall, many Windows RT devices failed to reach the market on time, which is why the number of tablets in the first wave was smaller than anyone expected or intended.

This is the reason why, some believe, Microsoft is now letting HTC make and release tablets of its own.

According to some “unnamed sources” HTC is making a 7-inch tablet and a 12-inch slate.

The former isn't unexpected. 7-Inch media slates, regardless of OS or hardware, are quite numerous. Amazon Kindle Fire/Fire HD, Nexus 7, these are just the best-known examples.

The latter, though, is larger than normal. Even some ultrabooks have shorter screen diagonals than it (11.6 inches). That includes MSI Slidebook S20, although it is debatable whether that product is an ultrabook at all.

No specifications are known, and Microsoft and HTC haven't actually confirmed plans for these two products. The reports did specify early 2013 as the ETA though (estimated time of arrival), which means CES (Consumer Electronics Show, January) or MWC 2013 (Mobile World Congress, February) is where the revelations will take place. Maybe we'll even see an NVIDIA Tegra 4 Wayne chip in action.