Microsoft Reveals Surface Tablet Pricing

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Microsoft’s new Surface will be priced more like Apple’s iPad than like Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The company has revealed that prices for the tablet will start around $500 for the 32GB version without a cover.

SlashGear’s Chris Davies reported, “Microsoft’s Surface tablet has shown up for preorder in the US, with the Windows RT slate priced from $499 and set to go on sale on October 26. The listing at Microsoft’s official store gives three Surface RT options, starting with the 32GB model with no cover for the same price as a 16GB new iPad, then rising to $599 for the 32GB version with a black Touch Cover. The final option is the $699 64GB Surface RT, which also comes with a black Touch Cover. Those covers are also sold separately, at $119.99 apiece, and will be available in five different colors: white, red, black, blue, and pink.”

In The New York Times, Nick Wingfield observed, “It’s clear Microsoft is aiming Surface at what is shaping up to be the premium portion of the tablet market, which Apple currently dominates. Amazon, in contrast, seems intent on using price as a weapon to gain market share against its rivals. The company recently introduced an 8.9-inch screen Kindle Fire that starts at $300.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Lorraine Luk wrote, “According to component suppliers in Asia, Microsoft has placed orders to produce 3 million to 5 million of these tablets in the fourth quarter. That is similar to the orders that were placed for Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets and Google’s Nexus 7 tablets, these suppliers say.” She added, “Mass production of the Surface tablets began earlier this month, according to two people familiar with the situation.”

And Computerworld’s Juan Carlos Perez noted, “Almost half of IT managers in a survey last month said that they plan to standardize their company’s mobile platform on devices running Microsoft operating systems, including smartphone OSes Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 and tablet OS Windows RT, according to ThinkEquity, a research and institutional investment banking services firm. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they would choose Microsoft technology as their corporate mobile standard, up from 44 percent in a similar survey three months before, according to a research note from ThinkEquity financial analyst Yun Kim.”