“Swedish website Webhallen.com is listing Microsoft Surface tablet pricing on its site,” Robert Brand reports for WP Central. “If these details are correct then pricing would be substantially higher than previously thought. Of particular interest here is the cheapest ARM based WinRT device, a 32GB model, showing up costing around £648.00 or $1000.”
Brand reports, “It had previously been suggested that WinRT tablets would be priced relatively in line with current ARM based tablets… [but, vs. Apple’s iPad] the Surface is going to be much more expensive. Currently you can pick up a 32GB Wi-Fi only iPad for about £479.00 or £579.00 for the 3g variant. In either case, that puts the Surface well above the current market leader. Even if the Surface device is to be 3g enabled it would still be £70 more expensive in comparison. It has been rumoured that the Surface is not 3G capable, if that’s the case then the price gap leaps to £169.”
Brand reports, “The ARM version will not have the flexibility of Pro when it comes to application compatibility so pricing is key. This version is designed to take the iPad head on, if it cannot compete on price from the get go then we have to ask, ‘What is the point?'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A cool grand for a vapor-painted Blurry Ass Tablet™ afflicted with terminal AppLack™? Imagine that thing kickstanded up against and iPad with Retina Display starting at $499?! Microsoft’s WART is even more DOA. Even Microsoft isn’t that stupid, right?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
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Another copy of Apple strategy. Remember the same leaks happenned telling iPad was due to cost 1000$. Just to have more claps in hand when Jobs announced it was only 500.
Redmond ! Start your photocopiers!
Yep.
Exactly what they will do.
My first thought.
With that price, Surface will never get off the ground. Microsoft once again puts out a lead balloon.
The Mythbusters proved that a lead balloon actually floats.
So nana nana boo boo…
Did they “explode it real good” afterward?
Nice tip o’ the hat to SCTV.
ha ha ha
MS is trying to go for the premium end of the market
Going for the premium with a piss poor sub-product no one wants. Yep, sounds like Microsoft!
Hey, don’t forget that they engineered the kickstand to sound like the door of a fine automobile.
IF the pricing is correct, MAJOR fail for MS. This thing will have a hard enough time just trying to get traction against Android tablets. Release it at that price and it will definitely be DOA!
DOA indeed.
Its all vaporware until the hardware meets the road. ER, desktop. LOL
I hope Ballmer owns so much stock in M$ that he can’t be fired.
I like their strategy. I like it a lot. May Ballmer reign for as long as it takes… 😉
One thing I love about Apple: there is no cheapest product; only the least expensive.
+∞!
Fail.
Please keep in mind that Sweden has a Value Added Tax (VAT) of 25%. So the price without tax is $800. Still high, but not $1000. Just don’t compare it to prices in the States, but to prices in Sweden (as the article did, but MDN’s take didn’t).
Also, remember that the mark-up in Europe is higher than in the states. I could easily imagine that that same tablet would cost about $600 in the States. Again, still high, but not completely out of reach (of course I’M not going to buy one!).
The RT tablet will be 1280 x 720 so it’s fairer to compare it to the iPad 2.
The $1000 price includes about 15% sales tax, the $699 price does not include sales tax although there is no sales tax in the US that gets close to the nearly 20% sales tax of European countries. Still, that is a pretty hefty price for a POS!
And they forgot to factor in the added cost of the keyboard/cover!
Blurry Ass Tablet™ <- LOVE IT!
Let's have a Premature Burial Party! This thing is DBA: Dead Before Arrival. AKA still born. Let's bury it in a baby coffin. Mourn the un-born. 😉
Wao Finally My Wait Is Over i luv Microsoft….
i Will Surely Bu This Tab.
http://www.latestcrunch.in/microsoft-surface-tablete-specification-revie/
Now let’s see. The Australian dollar is US$1.03 do that means it should cost about $970. But after the bullshit tax it will cost around $1499 in Australia. $1499 for a blurry ass POS with a keyboard and USB?! I don’t think so. Especially when I can get a MacBook air for less!