Two prominent Microsoft OEM partners have expressed plans not to join the Windows RT tablet bandwagon, not yet at least, reportedly to focus their efforts on the more powerful Windows 8 slate that will hit the market in the early months of 2013.

While consumers will have a taste of what an RT tablet would be come October 26, also the launch date of Microsoft's latest operating system, top notebook maker Toshiba has opted to wait out for the Intel-powered Windows 8 version of the gadget.

"Toshiba has decided not to introduce Windows RT models due to delayed components that would make a timely launch impossible," CNET reported Toshiba as saying on late Tuesday, obviously alluding to reports that crucial parts for the ARM-powered device could encounter supply chain issues.

The company joined leading PC maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) in skipping the Windows RT tablet debut later this year but unlike HP, which has kept its reasons under wraps to date, Toshiba cited current market dynamics as the major prompt for its decision.

Toshiba, according to analysts, was simply playing it safe following the few years of weak PC sales that have hurt revenues not only of the Japanese firm but the traditional computing industry as a whole.

The company may have thought it wise to fence-sit a little more and watch how the Windows 8 thrust will develop, which in Q4 2012 will have to compete with the best of the markets as Apple and other key Android tablet makers are expected to unleash new products in time for the holiday shopping season.

High hopes are up for the new Microsoft platform but tech watchers are doubtful if its nascent ecosystem would be able challenge the vaunted apps collection found on both the iOS and Android.

By the last count, the two leading mobile platforms boast of some 600,000 downloadable softwares from their respective libraries while Microsoft lags too far behind with a little more than 100,000 apps on its online stores, according to Bloomberg.

Clearly, with nothing much to offer in the Windows scheme of things, PC players such as HP and Toshiba would want to wait or better yet wait and see how the major revamp of the Microsoft baby will unfold.

"For the time being, Toshiba will focus on bringing Windows 8 products to market," Toshiba said, obviously indicating that the firm's energy will be trained on what it does best at the moment - producing desktop PCs and notebooks that will stand on the new Microsoft OS roll out.

Yet according to CNET, Toshiba will "continue to look into the possibility of Windows RT products in the future while monitoring market conditions," leaving the impression that the company wants to see first if the limited capability of the RT tablet will play out good enough to give it a try after a few months.

Tech watchers have speculated that PC players would want to have a clear glimpse of how the tussle on the small tablet segment will develop among Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows RTM.

It is widely expected that by the last quarter or early 2014 at the latest, Apple will issue the iPad Mini to counter the slew of smaller Android tablets that have been flooding the market lately, chief of them are Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Microsoft is also rumoured to sell Surface RT, not necessarily smaller tablets though, at $199 per unit to gain some inroads in the market and ramp up presence on its ecosystem.

The ploy will be a loss for the tech giant's initial foray into the hardware business, analysts said, but Microsoft is upbeat on the eventual upside once its system has collected further tractions in the long term.

Yet still smarting from previous challenges, companies like HP and Toshiba would not want to make what they perceive as similar gamble moves for now, contented to simply watch Microsoft and the few others to pave the road for them.

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