Microsoft made some shocking news nearly a year ago when it announced that it would develop a version of its next Windows operating system that would run on processors based on designs from ARM in addition to its normal x86 version for Intel and AMD chips. Now NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, speaking at a tech conference in Asia earlier today, said Microsoft should only have the ARM version of Windows run on tablet devices, at least at first.
Engadget reports that during the conference, Huang said, "It"s important for [Microsoft] not to position these as PCs. From a finesse perspective -- I can"t speak on their behalf -- but I would come out with tablets first with Windows on ARM. It helps to establish that this isn"t a PC." He added that he hopes that Microsoft would release a version of its Microsoft Office business software suite for the ARM version of Windows, saying it "would be the killer app" for that version of the OS.
Huang also talked about NVIDIA"s smartphone and tablet processor strategy. NVIDIA"s Tegra 2 dual core processor is in a number of smartphones and tablets right now and that the next version of the chip, the quad core processor code name Kal-El, should be a part of a new Asus tablet beginning in early November. Huang said that sometime in the future proccesor makers could create separate chips for smartphones and some for tablet devices.