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Windows RT Will Cost OEMs Over Twice As Much as Windows 7
MrSeb writes with this excerpt from Extreme Tech: "Good news: Last month's unbelievable rumors that a Windows RT (Windows 8 ARM) licenses would cost OEMs $90-100 were off the mark — in actual fact, as confirmed by multiple vendors at Computex in Taiwan, the Windows RT license cost is only $80-95. At this point, we're not entirely sure what Microsoft's plan for Windows RT is. It would seem that Microsoft doesn't want to flood the markets with cheap Windows RT tablets. At this rate, though, we would expect the cheapest Windows RT tablets to hit the market at around $600, with top-spec models (if they exist) in the $800-900 range — well above Android tablets or the iPad. We can only assume that Microsoft doesn't want to go head-to-head with iOS and Android, instead trying to stake out a position at the top end of the market. Whether this is a good plan, with x86 tablets and their full 20-year PC ecosystem also vying for market share, remains to be seen."
For comparison, sources say that Windows Phone 7 ran OEMs the equivalent of $30 per device, and Windows 7 for desktops around $50.
Isn't Office included on Windows RT? I think that is the reason of that higher price, some big corporations have so disconnected divisions that each one demands their cut to meet their yearly quota and do not see the big picture
$600 - $900 for a Windows tablet? Really? Good luck with that one Ballmer. Look - Apple is a premium brand so they can get away with charging what they do for the iPad. The android tablets are priced at a discount to that, presumably because the OS is free but also because the quality of components is not quite as good. On the ones I've used the touch screens don't seem to be quite as responsive as the iPad. In any case, where does this leave the Windows tablets? Selling at a premium to the iPad? I don't think so.
Sure, Microsoft will survive on the desktop and on "classic" laptops. Windows 7 is good enough to keep them in business for those types of device, even if Windows 9 takes another five years to produce. Windows 7 will just become the new XP.
But for touchscreen devices, Windows 7 is not fun to use as it is. Neither are most existing Windows applications. So Windows 8 (RT) starts from a difficult position and I could imagine the pricing as described is the final nail in its coffin.
Which would give iOS and Android time until Windows 9 to get even more entrenched on smartphones and tablets. That cannot be good for Microsoft.
C - the footgun of programming languages
It's possible they realize the folly of Windows RT and are trying to make it possible but not probable.
It's not really clear who windows RT is actually going to be good for. It's clear who it's aimed at. But if the whole plan is to have a single windows 8 family why the hell would you buy the ugly incompatible step child of the family? That doesn't mean windows RT will be bad, or won't behave exactly the same from a user perspective as x86/IA64, at least until they go to install software and find out nothing works. But for a tablet the whole advantage of windows is that it runs windows software, if it's not going to run windows software... why would you want it?
The fact that intel and AMD haven't really kicked into gear for mobile has hurt microsoft a lot. There should be x86 phones running well... actual windows. And there should have been for 5 or 6 years at this point. I have a 6 year old touch and pen enabled windows XP tablet that behaves pretty much exactly as you'd expect a touch device to, other than the whole having a fold out keyboard because it's a convertible laptop, and I have a touch enabled windows vista HP laptop thats about 4 years old that's the same deal.
I'm still struggling to figure out what Windows RT is aimed at. Maybe it's for emerging markets and developers for emerging markets? It's possible they want regular windows as the main product line in rich countries, and poor ones that only get arm devices to have a cheap edition? Selling a cheap tablet to compete on price with the iPad in any market is a stupid plan if there's no software for it, which seems to be what windows RT would be, that's just going to make millions of customers angry, fast. Making a shitty product more expensive doesn't make it a better product, but it might make manufacturers think twice about trying to stuff it in every pile of bad hardware they can shovel out the door. But as you say... who whole strategy seems internally inconsistent.