Steven Sinofsky says Windows RT has drivers for 420 million devices out there, thousands of apps added weekly
Microsoft is on stage now, announcing Windows 8/RT, and it quickly throwed in some stats about the RT version that might sway you towards using it. While there will be just a few thousand apps at launch that are compatible with it, Microsoft mentioned that the store is the largest for any ecosystem so far at launch, and thousands of apps will be added each week. Recently it said the goal is to have 100,000 quality apps by February.
The other selling point of Windows RT tablets, it said, besides the free Microsoft Office that comes installed on them, and the long battery life, is the vast driver support. Microsoft has given RT slates support for the same devices Windows 8 supports, and it quoted there are 420 million electronics and peripherals currently supported by Windows, which RT tablets will recognize and support.
This is a huge opportunity, and most of those will be supported out of the box, without the need to download drivers from Microsoft's servers. In fact, Steven Sinofsky said a 100% of the most popular printers currently on the US market, are supported as plug-and-play right out of the box.
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