While Windows 8 is at least a year away, if not more, from its launch, that hasn't stopped the Internet rumor mill from posting up word about possible Windows 8-based products. Today the Twitter page of Eldar Murtazin, the editor in chief of Mobile-Review.com, claims that HTC is developing its own Windows 8 tablet that will run some kind of ARM-based processor. Murtazin has broken news about other products in the past. This same rumor also appears on TFTS which says the ARM processor will be made by Qualcomm
If true, this would only be the second device confirmed to be running Microsoft's next operating system. Samsung has already released a tablet running the developers preview version of Windows 8 to the attendees of last week's BUILD Conference. Indeed those first Windows 8 products are already showing up on eBay. HTC would seem to be a natural to make a Windows 8 tablet since the smartphone maker has released and will continue to ship smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system.
If the tablet does run on an ARM-based processor, that also means that any application that runs on the device will have to work natively with the processor. As we reported last week, Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 8 won't be able to run any applications made for x86 processors, made by companies like Intel and AMD, on an ARM-based product. The two processors have a number of architectural differences that prevent this kind of cross-development from happening. Another reason is that Microsoft wanted to keep malware programs from being able to infect both versions of Windows 8.
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