Just lowering the price of SurfaceRT seems uncreative. A better plan would be to give it away for free with a two year subscription to something like a "Microsoft Premium Services Plan" with a monthly fee of say $29 that would include a stuff like: extra SkyDrive storage, a Skype local calling plan, an upgraded subscription to Office 365, and whatever else they can think of. Microsoft could turn a profit over time the way cell phone carriers do when they essentially give away smart phones, and the subscription would drive users to their online properties. All consumer hardware margins approach zero over time anyway so just skip to the end game and focus on selling services.
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Just lowering the price of SurfaceRT seems uncreative. A better plan would be to give it away for free with a two year subscription to something like a "Microsoft Premium Services Plan" with a monthly fee of say $29 that would include a stuff like: extra SkyDrive storage, a Skype local calling plan, an upgraded subscription to Office 365, and whatever else they can think of. Microsoft could turn a profit over time the way cell phone carriers do when they essentially give away smart phones, and the subscription would drive users to their online properties. All consumer hardware margins approach zero over time anyway so just skip to the end game and focus on selling services.