Microsoft Cuts Surface Pro Tablet Pricing, Following Slashing of Surface RT
We've made our feelings about Windows RT known, but here's something that may signal Microsoft's "coming to Earth" moment when it comes to tablets in general. After hacking $150 from the price of the Surface RT, and then confessing in its most recent quarterly earnings that it would be taking a charge that was greater than what it spent in advertising, now the company is slashing $100 from the price of the Surface Pro.
It could just be temporary, but a company usually doesn't initiate a price drop unless sales are lagging or a new model is en route (or both). Microsoft is learning just how difficult it is to compete with Apple in the tablet market that the iPad presently owns, and it also speaks to something greater. Microsoft seemingly assumed that Windows 8, a full-fledged operating system, on a tablet was the best of both worlds. Turns out, people aren't flocking to the Surface Pro, and on the whole, aren't buying that value proposition.
The current sale price will last until at least the end of the month, but it remains to be seen how Microsoft will address the overriding issue of disinterest in future editions of Surface.
It could just be temporary, but a company usually doesn't initiate a price drop unless sales are lagging or a new model is en route (or both). Microsoft is learning just how difficult it is to compete with Apple in the tablet market that the iPad presently owns, and it also speaks to something greater. Microsoft seemingly assumed that Windows 8, a full-fledged operating system, on a tablet was the best of both worlds. Turns out, people aren't flocking to the Surface Pro, and on the whole, aren't buying that value proposition.
The current sale price will last until at least the end of the month, but it remains to be seen how Microsoft will address the overriding issue of disinterest in future editions of Surface.
