If your business is looking for a powerful tablet but unable to budget for a high end price, there’s more good news from Microsoft.
The Redmond, Washington-based software giant has decided to cut the price on its Surface Pro tablet by $100 after a similar price cut on the Surface RT announced last month. The price reduction for U.S. customers began this month and will likely be permanent, reports TheVerge.com
Price Cuts on Surface RT Successful Thus Far
The reason for the latest price reduction is simple. Microsoft says the recent cut in the price of its Surface RT tablet computers has already boosted sales.
Remember, the price of the Surface RT was drastically cut by about 30 percent and costs just $349 in most markets today.
The Surface Pro has already been reduced in most major markets around the world. For example, the Microsoft website now lists the device starting at $799. The company reportedly took a $900 million loss on the Surface RT in the recent quarter.
New Price Better for Small Business
Frankly, the price cut on the Surface Pro is bigger news potentially for small businesses than the earlier cut in price on the Surface RT. So what’s the difference?
Ultimately the distinction comes down to the operating system. The Surface RT runs an RT version of Microsoft’s Windows 8 different in several ways from the regular Windows 8 system. Most importantly though, the RT version won’t run software that works on earlier Windows versions, big trouble for some small businesses that need devices compatible with software they are using on desktop computers.
By comparison, the Surface Pro runs the full version of Windows 8, making it more compatible with the older Windows software many small businesses may still rely on. It’s an important distinction, because one of the key attractions of a Windows tablet is the ability to run Windows office and productivity products on it with ease, just as if you are working on your desktop computer.
Frankly I don’t know why Microsoft thought they could sell a tablet for nearly $1000. The market, even for business use, just won’t go much above $700 or so that a high capacity, 4G iPad would sell for.
I think the price cut would open their tablet to another market. But then again, it will get them more sales. If Microsoft is aspiring to equal iPad in their pricing, they’ll surely have a very hard time.
Joshua Sophy
I’m not sure why Microsoft would decide to enter this market. It’s rather competitive and a lot of people I know seem to be dedicated to their brand.
That said, anything mobile that’s more synced with how you do business on the computer makes sense. It may take a really sweet offer from Microsoft in the future to get people off their current tablet.
A hundred bucks off a thousand-dollar tablet isn’t much of a deal, in my opinion, especially compared to the drop on the lesser Surface.
Put a full version of Windows 8 on the current Surface RT at the sale price and I’m in. Down the road I would likely consider a better model, too.
The market is very cutthroat but it’s the brand that matters. I don’t think that this tablet is going to have more sales after this small price reduction by Microsoft. With that being said, many small businesses are using other tablets at affordable prices from other brands, so it’s going to take a little bit more time for this one to get the expected amount of sales. But as I said, it’s the brand that all matters to the consumers, scenario might change over the course of time.
Dizzy
I agree the price cut is a step in the right direction, but they need to cut the price more. They need business and consumers to jump on this product and the price point is higher than a desktop PC.