Samsung Windows RT Ativ Tab Canceled in US - Confirmed at CES 2013

American consumers looking to pick up a Windows RT tablet have one less option now.

Samsung announced that it won't be releasing the Ativ Tab in the United States, because it lacks confidence in the Windows RT operating system.

"There wasn't really a very clear positioning of what Windows RT meant in the marketplace, what it stood for relative to Windows 8, that was being done in an effective manner to the consumer," Mike Abary, the Samsung senior vice president in charge of U.S. PC and tablets.

"When we did some tests and studies on how we could go to market with a Windows RT device, we determined there was a lot of heavy lifting we still needed to do to educate the customer on what Windows RT was. And that heavy lifting was going to require pretty heavy investment," he told CNET.

And Samsung wasn't willing to do all that work by itself.

"When we added those two things up, the investments necessary to educate the consumer on the difference between RT and Windows 8, plus the modest feedback that we got regarding how successful could this be at retail from our retail partners, we decided maybe we ought to wait," said Abary at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev.

Abary said he doesn't blame Microsoft for the issues, insisting that Samsung didn't want to compromise on features and power in order to achieve a low price point.

Still, Samsung isn't ruling out releasing a Windows RT device in the U.S. permanently.

"We want to see how the market develops for RT," Abary said. "It's still a viable option for us in the future, but now might not be the right time."

It's a smart move, says Kevin C. Tofel at GigaOM. "In a quick check, I saw that Samsung's Ativ Smart PC with Intel Atom and 64 GB of storage can be had for $599 on Amazon. And Dell's Latitude 10 Essentials Windows 8 slate with the same Atom chip and 32 GB is now down to $499," he said.

"Microsoft's own Surface RT tablet with Qualcomm processor starts at the same $499 and includes 32 GB of storage. Choose a 64 GB Surface RT device, and you'll pay $699. That price does include a keyboard cover, however."

"Regardless, consumers can choose a tablet with the full version of Windows 8 that's fully compatible with old Windows applications for about the same price as a Windows RT slate. Samsung knows this and must figure: Why bother with the RT version?"