“Sources from notebook players have revealed that Microsoft’s 10.6-inch Surface tablet PCs will be outsourced to Pegatron Technology for assembly; however, there is still not a firm estimate for order volumes,” Monica Chen and Joseph Tsai report for DigiTimes.
“The sources also estimated the end-market price of the Windows 8 Pro-based Surface tablet PC with Ivy Bridge processor to be at least above US$799,” Chen and Tsai report, ‘while the Windows RT-based model, featuring Nvidia’s Tegra 3, will be priced above US$599.”
Chen and Tsai write, “Since Microsoft is only expected to receive limited profits from its own-brand tablet PC products, while greatly offending its clients, the strategy that Microsoft has taken is rather risky.”
Read more in the full article here.
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Wow, if the RT based one starts at $599, it is going to be even more of a stillborn than I originally thought.
At that price I can buy a 32 GB iPad Wi-Fi or (for a few dollars more) a 16 GB Wi-Fi + Cellular. One can only imagine how “stripped” the subSurface will have to be to make that price point.
You know, I really want there to be an “a” between the R and the T.
How about an “fa” before the RT?
Doesn’t surprise me at all. Microsoft can’t buy in bulk like Apple and they’ve got extra tech like that keyboard which costs something. (Not to forget the kickstand that sounds like a luxury car oor slamming.) But I bet the Pro version will be even higher than $800. I think $999 sounds more likely. It needs separation from the RT and Microsoft wants to give the illusion that their products are premium, like Apple.
Of course these are guesses and Microsoft coud be willing to take a loss (a la Amazon), so they could be cheaper.
If Microsoft takes a loss, how can their “Partners” make any money?
…take a loss (a la Xbox)…
Yes.
I see them using this model and that the $599 is even WITH a loss.
Well, that didn’t last long.. So, Bomber is trying to be Tim Cook.. FAIL…
If the Flying Monkey Machine is sending / depending on an integrator and assembler to build their ‘tablet’ – THEY LIED IN THEIR ANNOUNCEMENT. BUT, that shouldn’t surprise anyone.. they LIE about every thing… It’s BOMBER !!!
So now, their PREVIOUS hardware partners – Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, etc… hopefully, will tell Steve – BLOW IT OUT YOUR A**….!!! We’re done with you….
Then the monkey’s are gone… tee…hee….
Just as I choose Apple products for personal use because I find the whole experience to be what I prefer, there will be tons of folks who will lap up the Microsoft offerings because they believe that Microsoft will provide them with the best product. No matter what happens, I am sure that Microsoft will declare it a huge success. Their tablets will probably do tons of things but few very well.
Windows has proliferated because of price. Look at sales figures for computers above $1,000. Price not being a factor, people will overwhelmingly choose Apple. Surface is doomed.
“Since Microsoft is only expected to receive limited profits from its own-brand tablet PC products, while greatly offending its clients, the strategy that Microsoft has taken is rather risky.”
Leave it to an analyst to understate the glaringly obvious.
The difference between “risky” and “stupid” is the existence of an upside. I see no upside for Microsoft on this Surface adventure.
The verdict on this project falls squarely in the “stupid” category…
MS did not anything about being 3 or 4G compatible. They did say they had a great Wi-Fi antenna. If they do not offer cell technology they are stupid. Even if the the the best selling iPads are Wi-Fi only they will be toast. Android makers will be all over it. There will be no cell carriers advertising or store sales; instead they will be telling customers not to buy them. Not to mention Nokia backstabbing.
I’m excited about The Sewerface®, gonna be Microshaft’s greatest product since the Zune.
@ Mr. Botvinnik the Yankees fan forever:
You, sir, are going to receive the cleaning bill to help pay for cleaning my coffee off my keyboard and monitor! 🙂
Sewerface indeed! Let’s hope some of the tech press picks up this wonderfully creative and descriptive term…
@everyone: cut and paste Sewerface® into the comments sections of other tech blogs – let’s get this thing viral!
The Sewerface. It’s the next The Social.
And it will arrive alongside the glorious introduction of the iPad mini, dropping the floor price of high quality tablets to $299 while Microsoft reaches for the ceiling. It will be ultra thin, ultra compact and ultra lightweight, carving a brand new, spanking hot market in the 8″ category that Redmond photocopiers will scramble to match before they can even gain a foothold in the 10″ category.
There will be blood.
But they’re busy building hybrid tablet/desktop (kickstand and keyboard?) computers that will neither be good tablets or good desktops.
MS simply dont get it. iPad is a bare device requiring no peripherals – thats its USP.
MS make theOS – sold with the machine. Apple give away the iOS upgrades – are MS going to charge for them ?
The machine is made and sold at cost – to gain traction and market share- the apps are minimal
So where is the revenue stream coming from?
“… while greatly offending its clients…”
What are those “clients” going to do? They are already making Android tablets. This is actually a rare case of MS having the right idea (software and hardware integration). But it’s MS, so they couldn’t help themselves from putting full Windows on it and putting on a fucking kickstand. A. Fucking. Kickstand.
A kickstand made of magnesium no less. It will be a race to see if it breaks before the battery ignites the case. Magnesium is even more brittle than it is flammable. Hey and it took a lot of hard work, innovation, and design insight to come up with that ingenious screen protector that connects with magnets. Where did they ever come up with that idea? Why hasn’t anyone ever thought of that before? How original is that? Watching Steve Balmer on stage is like watching a pitchman trying to sell the latest whopper-chopper or sham-wow.
Microsoft’s greatest success in the last (Windows) is also its greatest obstacle to embracing the future. Essentially what they are trying to do is squeeze a desktop paradigm into a tablet form factor.
Toaster ovens aren’t better than a toaster at making toast and aren’t better than an oven at baking things. At best they are suited for warming leftover pizza.
Leftovers from the Windows desktop era.
Microsoft just pulled the wraps off its first tablet attempt last evening, and tomorrow…
Read full article here,
http://www.geekscover.com/2012/06/microsoft-expected-declare-windows-phone-8-tomorrow/
It’s Digitimes. Their predictions are even worse than Limbaugh’s dictacular comments.