While HTC dipped its proverbial toe in the Android tablet swimming pool, releasing the Flyer and Jetstream, it’s far from the most prolific tablet manufacturer around. Now a new rumor suggests that this inexperience the company has with tablets ended up hurting its chances at getting in on the ground floor of Windows 8 tablets, with Microsoft withholding the early access to software it would need in order to prepare a launch device.

Supposedly, a combination of HTC’s tablet inexperience and some disappointing sales figures in general are what prompted Microsoft not to extend an early look at Windows 8 for tablets (Windows RT) to the company. This is in spite of HTC’s own enthusiasm for such a device, as it was reportedly very interested in putting together a tablet that featured a customized home screen.

According to these reports, HTC might wait until Windows 8 is released to start working on a tablet of its own, which then wouldn’t get here until sometime next year, but even that’s not a given. Assuming what we’ve heard is true, we applaud Microsoft’s efforts to focus on having a high caliber of Windows 8 launch tablets, but can’t help but feel that this kind of treatment of HTC is just going to make the company’s eventual foray into Windows 8 that much more difficult.

Source: Bloomberg