Consumer confusion? Really? I am not sure if consumers walk into a store uninformed to drop $600 on a tablet without doing any research. I would like to think that most consumers aren’t blindly buying these things. As far as retailers and salespeople not knowing the difference? That’s up to the store to hire knowledgeable people. I am sure I could find a couple that would tell me that the iPad could run OSX applications, too. Heck, I saw someone at Best Buy trying to sell a Sony Zune to a customer. I’m sure if the retailer, consumer or sales person spent five minutes to educate themselves on the tablets, they would be in a much better position.

Retailers calling Windows RT “Windows 8 RT”? Not confusion. They are trying to leverage the Windows 8 hype.

As far as the comments that Windows RT will fail? Not so sure. There is a good price difference between the ARM and i5 processor powered tablets, and battery life is a bit better, although not stellar. Room to improve for sure. But, it’s not a reason for it to be doomed to failure.

I’ve spent a lot of time pointing out that ARM-based tablets won’t have a cost advantage or a battery life advantage. This is why I’ve argued that Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet or any other Windows RT tablet is doomed to fail. Windows RT tablets have all the limitations and none of the commonly assumed advantages of ARM-based systems such as battery life and low cost. But most shoppers won’t know the difference, especially if the Microsoft Store and other online retailers hide the limitations of Windows RT.