Despite comments by Nvidia CEO Jen Hsun Huang in March calling on Microsoft to provide an Outlook email client for Windows RT, Haas said, "I don't think Outlook's a have to have" for the next-generation Windows RT.
Huang told financial analysts in March: "If Outlook were to show up on RT, my life would be complete. I am one Outlook away from computing nirvana. Outlook god, please..."
Haas laughed at Huang's comment and remarked that Huang "has more faith in that god, but Outlook would be a real positive."
Windows RT doesn't run traditional Windows applications as does Windows 8, which appears on X86-based tablets, and analysts have said consumers are confused about the value of purchasing a Windows RT device. Several analysts have called on Microsoft to kill Windows RT or merge it with an updated Windows 8 in the next generation, with what is being called Windows Blue.
Microsoft hasn't been explicit about what Windows Blue will include, although Tami Reller, Windows marketing chief, recently said in an interview with Geekwire: "We want to leave no doubt about our commitment to ARM."
Microsoft was recently asked to comment on Windows RT to Computerworld, but declined.
Huang, according to Haas, told investors in March that eventually users of Windows tablets won't know if they are using a tablet running X86 or one running ARM and will just know they are using the Windows "modern" user interface. "How or when that happens, we don't know," Haas said.
Nvidia provides Tegra 3 processors for Microsoft's Surface RT tablet, as well as the Asus VivoTab RT and the Lenovo Yoga 11, which is actually a convertible device that can be used as a clamshell laptop, or converted to a tablet.
Haas said next-generation Tegra 4 processors will run on "multiple" versions of upcoming Windows RT tablets, although he would not name them say when they will be available.
The Tegra 4 was unveiled in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show and is a quad-core system-on-a-chip based on ARM's most advanced Cortex-A15 architecture. It has a second-generation battery-saving core as well. The Tegra 4 has been clocked at 1.9 GHz but it also includes 72 custom graphics processor cores to support super high-definition 4K resolution, console gaming and High Dynamic Range photography.
