“Price estimates for the Windows RT version of Microsoft’s Surface tablet have been all over the map, ranging from $600 to a highly unlikely $1,000,” Brad Reed reports for BGR. “But now Engadget has talked with an unnamed ‘inside source’ who attended a session at Microsoft’s TechReady15 conference and claims to have learned that Microsoft would be selling the Windows RT version of its tablet for just $199.”
“Pricing the Windows RT version of the tablet at under $200 would certainly be a game-changer for Microsoft, though the company would very likely be taking a major hit to its bottom line for selling such a high-end tablet for such a low price,” Reed reports. “At the same time, such a move might make sense because Microsoft is showing up very late to the tablet market that is already well-stacked at… the high end with the Apple iPad.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If — big IF (the source seems rather ill-defined) — little old Microsoft wants to try to get into a price war with Apple, it’s a war they cannot mathematically win.
Microsoft has to do more than bring a peashooter to a thermonuclear war.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rick Pearce” for the heads up.]
Brings to mind the expression ‘loss leader’. Is MS willing to bleed red ink all over this thing?
The best thing that could happen to it would be for Adolf Ballmer to send a U-Boat to torpedo it under the surface.
and will their shareholders?
X-Box.
That division was in the red for almost a decade. It only survived because of Microsoft’s cash cows in other areas.
Like Apple, they have massive cash reserves they can fall back on (just not as much).
Those MS cash reserves dry up more and more with every failed experiment. This one will suck even more money out of the war chest. If you haven’t read it – the article in the August issue of Vanity Fair about MS’s follies is definitely worth the read! (I’ve now read it 3 times and enjoy it more each time!)
While the X-Box finally started yielding a profit on a quarterly basis, my understanding is they spent an unreal amount of money in development. That, combined with years of earlier losses, put them in something like a $14B hole. X-Box break-even is probably a distant dream. Since they are way late to any new trend, Microsoft is willing to lose huge amounts of money copying the work of others, trying to get into something beyond windows and office. So far, that hasn’t worked, and their two core products are the only significant money makers for them. Of course their own stupid mistakes, and the competition, especially Apple, are killing those.
For sure, they haven’t begun to break even–by “in the red” I meant only profits or losses per quarter or per year.
The $1+ billion to repair the red ring of death on new XBox 360s sure didn’t help.
IMHO the X-Box effort was mainly to try generating a “cool” street-cred image to offset the stodgy business-only image they had (and still have). $14 billion overall loss is an expensive way to do that, but props to them for at least trying a different direction.
A $200 surface will the the funniest thing ever – ESPECIALLY because not only will it bleed out microsoft, but ALL other PC vendors – who will be forced to price down their own tablets and lose money, or price them where they can make profits, and lose sales.
This effect will domino out of control. This is why the ASUS Ceo was PLEADING with microsoft not to price the surface at $200 – most of these vendors Don’t have the cash to stay afloat if this happens.
It could very well be the death blow that finishes PC.
Obligatory: … Muwahahahaahahahahahaahahahaha…
“As long as it takes” may be far sooner than you think 😉 *smirk*
Cheers, fellow mac users. The liberation has cometh upon us.
Is that 4Day crew at it again? Quick: name one Android OEM who is offering a 10″ tablet for $200. Not. Going. To. Happen.
And let’s not forget BGR are the geniuses that brought us the “iPhone 5 will be exclusive on Sprint” rumor.
Unless this is a 3G (or 4G) device, and this will be the price after subsidy, with a two-year contract and a mandatory $40 monthly plan…
As for a 10″ tabled for under $200, there’s always Coby…
(9.7″, so not quite 10″, but almost there).
Is that $199 price before or after an anti-virus license and the Software Assurance shake-down?
What’s the TCO for an insecure product brought into the home (identity theft) or enterprise (proprietary data theft)?
None of the malware written for windows is compatible with WinRR.
Of course neither are any existing apps you might want to run!
Nice. Nothing like real input as opposed to fanboy input. Well done.
Hey! You should get the Cover/Keyboard with it also, that’s only another $75.
Ballmer once again kicks its OEM partners in the nuts.
Exactly what I was thinking. An earlier MDN article mentioned Dell, Samsung, Lenovo, and Asus buying into the R2 surface setup. Will they be able to beat this price? Heck no.
Totally agree here. Microsoft has already verbally backed down on building the Surface as they commented that it was a demonstration piece to sooth the OEM partners. They will need to have the price high enough to pay Microsoft for the software and still make a profit.
PS, why do you think that Apple’s profit margins were down last time…… its taking a hit on the iPad and making less profit. So even at $500 (and $400) Apple is keeping the price low.
Want to sell at a loss? fine, how are you going to stay in business. At least Amazon has a plan for that. LOL
They will probably have 7″ models at that price. Big whoop. The iPad will “start” at $299 in a month or two once the iPad mini arrives.
An ipad mini, what and kill the iPod touch, I don’t think so
How a bout a 7″ iPod touch? That could work
The 7.85″ iPad is coming very soon, shipment of parts have already been reported, are now iin the hands of Foxconn.
And whatever Apple calls it, Tim Cook said he and Aplle had not been worried about any loss, they make it up on the new products they sell, and anyway there will always be a place for a small device with allot of storage to handle Music.
I want my Newton !
You get what you pay for, cheap crap.
Apparently Mickey’s Caugh (Microsoft) pays Apple
a licensing fee per device… right and not to clone iOS.
so the Device is low to produce…
and will function like JUNK too
As a bonus, it comes with swampland.
In other words, a “Throw Away” product.
RT = Real Tacky?
Reminds me of that original Zune rumor that MS would credit you for all of your iTunes music if you got Zuned.
They should totally do this! This would be like play for sure on steroids to all Microsoft’s OEMs.
Impossible for a 10″ tablet, that’s cutting it super thin for a 7″ even.
It’s not like they could make it up by selling overpriced games like the Xbox either.
“bottom line for selling such a high-end tablet for such a low price,”
How can something that no one outside of M$ has used be called “such a high-end tablet…?
Came from BGR.. nuff said!!!
Sounds like they are charging twice what it is worth considering the OS!
How can MS be late to the market, when they have been pushing tablets for a dozen years?
This thing runs Windows… $199 must be the basic version that runs “Hello World” (and nothing else). To upgrade to barely functional (“home edition”) is probably $599, while the complete version (“enterprise edition”) is probably $999.
Ha! A keen awareness of Microsoft’s pricing model. Blare the trumpets, shock the world with daring, jaw-dropping low pricing! STARTS AT $199. That’s what’s remembered, and hooted in the press, all while buyers walk out of the store befuddled after dropping $1500 on “must have” options.
If this is remotely true, here is a little bit of conspire-rumor-ancey.
The MS Surface RT will sell for $199. Their partner RT units will sell for more but due to competition from the MS model will all fail, forcing the partners to re-think their commitment to producing Surface Pro units.
MS stock will tank and leave MS vulnerable to a hostile stock move. Apple will buy MS and begin the long slow weaning of the world off of Windows.
Apple has more cash than Microsoft and can if they wanted ( I don’t think they would) go on real price war and run them in to the ground.
MDN says: Microsoft has to do more than bring a peashooter to a thermonuclear war.
$199 would mean two things:
1) It would be cheap hardware, hardly worth releasing, never a crowd pleaser.
2) Microsoft would be back at their old game of buying market share. Totally expected.
And darn, Metro sucks.
And darn, Intel apps won’t run on its ARM CPU without emulation.
What a wasted effort.
But it’s another customer choice.
Go for it Microsoft.
And die.
Please.
(x_x)
There’s a small, decimal-placement error in this story.
Ater market consultations, Microsoft will be launching their product at the appropriate price of $1.99.
Call me a crazy old man, but there are millions upon tens of millions of folks who look at nothing more than the price tag, a familiar brand name, and some oily slick marketing before making a purchasing decision. $199 tablet? From Microsoft? I want one!*
Gullible masses would buy a $199 Microsoft tablet. Whether they’d be happy, versus stupidly-contented and brainwashed into thinking they have something as good as an iPad, in the end is another story.
(*I personally don’t as I’ve been an Apple devotee since 1976, but you get my drift.)
What if this is just a ploy by MS to freeze the market so customers don’t by more iPads until the Surface comes out? Then the price will be >$500 and they can claim the $199 rumor was just that – a rumor.