Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Should The Company Kill Windows 8 Immediately?

This is before we even consider Windows RT, the less-capable variant that doesn’t support legacy apps. Surface RT sales haven’t made a dent in the market, and many OEMs are already abandoning the platform. Samsung just shuttered Windows RT sales in Europe, which it was using as a testing ground before possibly bringing those devices stateside. Other Windows RT OEMs are already dropping prices to clear out inventory.

Here’s IDC’s tablet guru Tom Mainelli last month:

Microsoft’s decision to push two different tablet operating systems, Windows 8 and Windows RT, has yielded poor results in the market so far. Consumers aren’t buying Windows RT’s value proposition, and long term we think Microsoft and its partners would be better served by focusing their attention on improving Windows 8. Such a focus could drive better share growth in the tablet category down the road.

IDC is pegging Windows RT growth at less than 3% through 2017, while the overall tablet market is expected to double between 2013 and 2017. At the very least, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) should axe Windows RT. It should probably drop Windows 8, too.

The article Should Microsoft Kill Windows 8 Immediately? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.