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Microsoft Surface Pricing Goes Toe-to-Toe With Apple iPad

Posted by Soulskill on from the because-high-prices-drive-adoption dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Microsoft has finally revealed the pricing of its upcoming Surface tablet to a small group of journalists, including Time's Harry McCracken, who wrote in an Oct. 16 posting that the device's 32GB version will retail for $499 (or $599 with the flexible keyboard cover) and the 64GB one for $699 (cover included). Preorders will apparently begin by midday Oct. 16. Microsoft unveiled Surface over the summer but kept the pricing a secret until now. That information vacuum led some to hope against hope that Microsoft would attempt something radical and price Surface extraordinarily low—$199, perhaps—in an attempt to undercut Apple's iPad. While that didn't happen, Surface at least matches its biggest rival's low- and high-end price points. The WiFi-only, 16GB version of the iPad retails for $499, while the WiFi-only, 64GB version costs $699 (iPads with a cellular connection cost a bit more)." A related article at BGR explains why the Surface is Microsoft's latest attempt to re-invent itself.

16 of 521 comments (clear)

  1. FAIL ! by VonSkippy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When your competitor has OWNED the market for several years, you don't MATCH their price, you blow it away.

    Who would be dumb enough to pay the same price as a 3rd generation device to guinea pig a 1st gen device from a company that is known to suck at first releases?

    And then there's Google's tablet for a dainty $199/$249

    Microsoft really does suck at new things.

    1. Re:FAIL ! by JDG1980 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If they are keeping the Tegra3 and 2GB of memory, which I've read of before, the MS tablets have some advantages over the iPad3.

      The Surface will only have a 1280x720 display, compared to the iPad's 2048x1536 – and the Surface actually has a *larger* screen. That's a huge difference, apparent at first glance – anyone with 20/20 eyesight can see the massive advantage of the iPad 3 over a low-DPI tablet. In contrast, the processor and RAM advantages of the Surface are buried in a spec sheet and will not even be noticed by most prospective buyers (who, remember, aren't all geeks and in many cases wouldn't know what Tegra 3 even meant.) Besides, who knows if some of that extra capacity is necessary just to run WinRT? There's no telling if it is as streamlined as Android and iOS – they may have had to throw hardware at it just to get it up to par.

  2. Time to pick one up! by Billly+Gates · · Score: 5, Funny

    With the Metro interface we all love so much here on slashdot and of course being forced to use this wonderful browser!'

    What is there not to love?

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
  3. Squirt by vlm · · Score: 5, Funny

    How does this tablet Zune squirt? Is it available in brown?

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  4. Re:Too little, too late by localman57 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're right, when it comes to the consumer market. But Microsoft is still firmly entrenched in business. I predict large corporations will eat up Microsoft's new tablet.

    Yeah. Microsoft is like RIM. Entrenched in business. They have nothing to worry about from Apple.

  5. Who will find out none of their Win7 software runs by guidryp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    targeting the existing 1.3 billion Windows users.

    I wonder how many Windows users will mistakenly buy a Surface tablet expecting it to run their "Windows" application/gaming software.

  6. Re:There is no travel at all on Touch Cover. by ByOhTek · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the only useful question remaining then is...

    Will it blend?

    --
    Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
  7. "This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "...or an ill-conceived also-ran like the Zune."

    No. It is a delusional, strategic blunder.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I find it interesting that every post you've ever made is singing the praises of Microsoft, Windows, and closely-aligned vendors like Nokia. I also appreciate your consistent message that the world is ready for Microsoft's new Enterprise-friendly offerings.

      Fess up: does it at least pay well?

    2. Re:"This is not a secondary business like Xbox..." by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Surface? It's Unpossible. A turd. On a silver platter.

      I watched the entire Zune BS from inside MS - and predicted the entire trajectory of the "chase Apple, xerox their market" strategy.

      Have you been into a "Microsoft Store"? It's like the Bizarro World, from Superman Comics.

      This is phase two, of the Bizarro strategy: Now that they have a consumer store, they will produce a product to sell in it.

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
  8. Re:Too little, too late by Flipao · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You're right, when it comes to the consumer market. But Microsoft is still firmly entrenched in business. I predict large corporations will eat up Microsoft's new tablet.

    Yeah. Microsoft is like RIM. Entrenched in business. They have nothing to worry about from Apple.

    Right now MS Office compatibility, lack of mouse support and USB host file access on an iPad are the only things stopping me from taking away the laptops from our sales force, so for now they're getting both a laptop and an iPad. They're all leaving their laptops at home and using them at the end of the day.

    Apple have every chance to kill Microsoft if they so choose, they just don't know it yet.

  9. Re:Ok...I'm waiting for the punch line... by Richard+Pounder · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dont get it..

  10. Re:Not Exactly The Same As An iPad by JDG1980 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I will probably buy one of these. They run Windows. They have a USB port. They will run a piece of software I want to run that will not run on IOS or Android, although it also has a version for OS-X.

    No, they won't!

    Windows RT is *not* Windows. It's a new operating system for ARM processors that is designed to look and feel like Windows, and shares some of the original code base. It has no backwards compatibility with existing Windows applications. Just in case I didn't make that clear, it will *NOT* run *ANY* existing desktop Windows applications. In fact, you can't even recompile or write new desktop application for WinRT. There is a desktop, but it's only allowed to run a few programs, such as Microsoft Office. (Why the FTC is letting them get away with that blatantly anti-competitive decision is beyond me.) Oh, and WinRT can't join domains either, so businesses won't be interested in using it.

    If you want to run existing Windows software, you'll have to wait for the x86-based Surface *Pro*, which will set you back nearly a thousand bucks. *That* will indeed be basically a PC in a tablet form factor, and compatible with the usual Windows ecosystem stuff.

    Microsoft is setting itself up for a massive backlash with this device. If Slashdot readers are thinking this way ("it's Windows, it will run my software") then how many ordinary users will make the same mistake? They will not be well disposed towards Microsoft products after that experience, I guarantee you.

  11. This is what I was afraid of.... by erp_consultant · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had high hopes for the Surface...if only to keep Apple and Google and Amazon honest. But the $499 price is a complete non-starter. First of all, if you want the cover/keyboard you have to fork over an additional $100. Seems a little steep to me. $50 is more like it. Secondly, when you buy one of the other tablets you're buying into a vast ecosystem of apps. Microsoft? They have relatively little to offer. Sure they have Office but this is supposed to be a consumer tablet, not a corporate tablet.

    Unless you are just a huge Microsoft fan to begin with I don't see any compelling reason to buy one of these. You can get an iPad with vastly more apps to choose from. You can buy an Android tablet for much the same reason, and cheaper to boot. You can buy an Amazon tablet for half the price and, if you have a Prime membership, access to tons of movies TV and books.

    I was hoping that MS would price it at $399, including keyboard/cover. That would give them a fighting chance against the other guys. Even if they have to sell it at a loss at least they can get them in peoples hands and give developers an audience to write for. As it stands now, this will be Touchpad II.

  12. Re:Awesome! by MachineShedFred · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, you mean just like the Lenovo X230 Tablet that's on my desk? Or maybe the X220 Tablet right next to it? Or the X201 Tablet or X200 Tablet in our lab? Or maybe the X61 tablet right next to those? Where did I say that no one has done this before? I'm saying that the above post is ridiculous to think that Apple never thought of a touchscreen notebook before, and would have a huge research gulf to cross in order to "catch up".

    They probably just didn't think it would be a model that would actually sell, and looking at the rest of the convertible touchscreen notebook market, I'd say that they were right.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  13. Re:Microsoft advantage and disadvantage by NatasRevol · · Score: 5, Informative

    SurfaceRT has things that your company won't like.

    1. No AD.
    2. No GPOs.
    3. No backwards compatibility.
    4. Limited email functionality.
    http://techpinions.com/windows-8-tablets-and-email-a-disaster-in-the-making/10360
    5. Slightly limited Office functionality. (Scroll down a ways, they buried it)
    http://blogs.office.com/b/office-next/archive/2012/09/13/building-office-for-windows-rt.aspx

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure