Microsoft Surface price leaks out: iPad rests easy

June 22, 2012 12:57 pm

Categories: Computers & Accessories, Gadgets News Tags: Apple, iPad, ivy bridge, Microsoft, price, RT, surface, tablets, uk

Are you saving your pennies for Microsoft’s Surface tablet? Sounds as though you might have to save a few more than we’d hoped. Sources close to the company have let slip the pricing for both the Nvidia and Intel-powered models, and they ain’t coming cheap.

You’ve not got to have a degree in accounting, economics or business strategy to realise that – at this stage – beating the iPad is going to take some very competitive pricing. Regardless of your name or reputation.

That’s a fact that seems to have escaped Microsoft. If anonymous sources close to the matter are to be believed, the price for the entry model Microsoft Surface RT tablet will start at an eye-watering $599 in the US, while the Ivy Bridge-powered Surface Pro will set you back $999.

Microsoft Surface: Everything you need to know

We’ve mentioned that the latter of the two tablets is a crazy idea in the first place, so let’s ignore that and focus on the RT, which Microsoft will be positioning against the iPad. Apple’s tablet costs $499 in the US – a full $100 cheaper than the proposed price.

UK pricing tends not to translate exactly as currencies should, so if the UK iPad starts at £399, we’d expect the Surface RT to be £499 on these shores. Even if that does get your the keyboard cover, that’s madness on Microsoft’s part – it could easily subsidise the cost of the Surface to try and scrape underneath (or at least match) the cost of the iPad.

As it is, the price is likely to scare off anyone but those with a solid allegiance to Microsoft. Has this leak just settled your buying decision for you? Let us know your thoughts below.

Source: TheNextWeb

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sashimig

at the same price than the ipad I could have bought the surface. It’s going to be like the playbook: a nice slate nobody wants to own.
http://twitter.com/JayJayTG Jay Gilliham

Well the price stated for the RT version at $599 is slated for the 64GB version which puts it right on par with the best Wi-Fi version of the new iPad in the US which is also $599. We may see the top Wi-Fi iPad price in the UK (£559) being around the same for the RT Surface
Ne0nK0ala

The thing is the $599 price tag is compared to the 64GB iPad plonker, alongside that the Surface shouldn’t be compared to a tablet anyway as it’s a fricking ultrabook, with USBs what tablet do you know that has that, when you think of it the Surface is actually cheaper than the iPad.

http://twitter.com/JayJayTG Jay Gilliham

No plonker the Surface running Windows RT is not a “fricking” ultrabook as it is not an x86/64 machine so it cannot run Windows XP/Vista/7/8 apps it can only run apps that have been developed for it of Win8 apps that have been compile for it! So in that respect it lines up again all other ARM based devices (iPad, Motorola Xoom, Blackberry Playbook, Samsung Galaxy tab etc).

Ne0nK0ala

Also why would it be £499 in the UK if it”s $499 in the US, durp

http://twitter.com/JayJayTG Jay Gilliham

That’s because the UK has to put various taxes etc onto the prices usually resulting in either $1=£1 or somewhere very close. You never see a direct conversion from todays currency rates.

http://www.facebook.com/Twodarts Ash Vyas

Its bound to fail. The market is already saturated with a number of tablet type devices. People have picked their sides in this particular market. You only have to look at the Playbook to see what happens when a company submits a late contender to the scene. An ivy bridge tablet? What’s the point?

http://twitter.com/JayJayTG Jay Gilliham

too saturated ?? There is only iOS and Android tablets on the market, that’s two! Also Microsoft has the biggest user base in the world. There are over 1 billion Windows based PCs in the world. Over 350 million copies of Windows 7 out there. Now these MS users have a new option! I think Surface will do fine… if not there is HP, Toshiba, Sony, Asus, Acer and so on’s offering to come!

Anonymous

Price point is a dry fact that underlies marketing and sales. The product will sell for what the market will bear. If you want to promote the product, citizen zealots, why not wait until it actually is in a box on a store shelf otherwise it’s a vapour rumour. Perhaps if the product is more than a spec sheet and a graphic and is actually in your hands and working, your enthusiasm is warranted.
Why do some people have to step up for the corporation? It’s an electronic product, which means its obsolete to begin with and doesn’t deserve the kind of outraged passion that some people are expressing. As well, if you have to represent “your company” then at least step back a little with the knowledge that the competing companies win and fail constantly and you are the one who bears the price and the results of their work, for good or bad.

If the product does actually exist (ship) and you want to pay the asking price then buy it and like it, and then enjoy it thoroughly and happily it until it gets replaced. If you don’t agree with price or you don’t like the product, then get something else. Its tiresome when citizen product evangelists mount a parade for every new conceptual half pound of plastic and electronics.
Anonymous

Price point is a dry fact that underlies marketing and sales. The product will sell for what the market will bear. If you want to promote the product, citizen zealots, why not wait until it actually is in a box on a store shelf otherwise it’s a vapour rumour. Perhaps if the product is more than a spec sheet and a graphic and is actually in your hands and working, your enthusiasm is warranted.
Why do some people have to step up for the corporation? It’s an electronic product, which means its obsolete to begin with and doesn’t deserve the kind of outraged passion that some people are expressing. As well, if you have to represent “your company” then at least step back a little with the knowledge that the competing companies win and fail constantly and you are the one who bears the price and the results of their work, for good or bad.

If the product does actually exist (ship) and you want to pay the asking price then buy it and like it, and then enjoy it thoroughly and happily it until it gets replaced. If you don’t agree with price or you don’t like the product, then get something else. Its tiresome when citizen product evangelists mount a parade for every new conceptual half pound of plastic and electronics.
Toxic

The pro for me was the only reason to buy. But at $999 I will be buying the next iPad in march for sure. It’s a shame MS you had a chance to get me back….
http://www.facebook.com/people/Darren-Ellsum/100001466361417 Darren Ellsum

Been holding out for a Windows 8 tablet – at these prices it is now a deal breaker for me. I would want the full blown kit and caboodle for the £320 price – afterall that’s why I have been waiting for a Windows tablet. A half baked machine is no good to me – not knowing if it will drive my peripherals, stuck within a walled garden of apps….I may as well go with a cheaper Android or Ipad. Sorry Microsoft, but even as a fan you have got this one wrong!
David

With only 10″, thats an expensive tablet. Should be sheaper than ipad, if they want me to buy it. The price will be +100$ in Sweden, at least.

Microsoft Surface price leaks out: iPad rests easy

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