Market Currents
A German site has leaked pricing for the Windows 8 Pro versions of Microsoft Surface (MSFT). The...
-
Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 2:44 PM ETA German site has leaked pricing for the Windows 8 Pro versions of Microsoft Surface (MSFT). The 64GB Surface Pro will reportedly have a local cost of €809 ($1,027) after including VAT, and the 128GB a cost of €909 ($1,160). At those prices (well above Surface RT's), Surface Pro, which uses an Intel Core i5 CPU, is likely to be a niche product. Especially since many OEMs are releasing cheaper and thinner (albeit less powerful) Windows 8 Pro devices based on Intel's Clover Trail Atom CPU.
Other date
TECH ETFs IN FOCUS
Latest Tech Articles
This news story has 17 comments:
RT on the other hand truly is a niche product. It is part of a longer term plan by MS to compete with Apple and google in the tablet space. But at the moment, with no Apps, it is little more than a prototype, foot-in-the-door.
A very smart move by MSFT, give the OEMs a chance to pull a profit and keep them friendly.
Since buying my wife a Surface RT and using it whenever I can get it out of her hands a few things have struck me. The first is that the form factor is excellent. My labtop now seems enormous. Yet I still am using it for spread-sheeting, accessing my access databasing and any real intensive word processing. However, if I could do all that with something a little bit larger then the Surface RT, I'd be in heaven.
The second thing that has really struck me about the whole Windows 8 transition is that the huge upgrades to the desktop environment have been completely overlooked. Nobody is talking about the addition of the ribbon like interface to windows explorer, the handy "easy access" menu, context sensitive menus, the possibilities opened up with the "Send to device" features, smart glass etc. Everyone wants to talk about the Metro/modern/tile UI but then act like there has been no change from windows 7 underneath. This is far from the truth. Windows 8 is far superior then windows 7. AND it has a fullscreen start menu that is open by default, but this shouldn't really be the main focus like it has.
The surface pro will bring a different user class to the Surface experience, one that will be able to fully appreciate what windows 8 has to offer. I for one can't wait to get one.
Microsoft has made it quite clear that the new (formerly known as Metro) interface is the new paradigm. It is the focus because Microsoft put it there and because it IS open by default.
The Android tablets that have been selling in any volume have been selling for $150-350. That a $1000+ table-tablet is going to sell less is hardly relevant. The big question is whether it will outsell the MacBook Air which is a closer competitor.
The number Microsoft is far more interested in is Windows 8 sales.
I suspect Microsoft might be planning to make up some margins with after-market services, like Xbox Gold, or SaaS, like Office 365, or possibly increased demand for Windows Azure.
Cut pro to 2MM orders. Ouch, and that didn't take long.
The world IS moving to cloud, and to mobile, touchable, sometimes disconnected devices. The business world included.
The RT platform is perfect for that space. There's plenty of enterprise-ready API and security in RT. If I was being asked to design a greenfield app for my CxO's dashboard (whatever) on her/his Surface or Win 8 tablet, I would absolutely first try to determine whether I could create a Win RT app instead of a traditional desktop app or a Web app.