The pricing for Microsofts Surface leaked and man what are those people over at Microsoft thinking. With a starting price point of $499 (and thats without the keyboard) for the 32 gig model. That price alone competes with the 3rd generation iPad but who wants a product that hasn’t proven anything yet. There are other options such as the Kindle, an array of Android tablets, and even the iPad mini. This starting price is beyond crazy. Good luck to Microsoft trying to sell this thing.
That pricing falls in line with a statement earlier this year from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that the Surface tablets pricing would be roughly in line with the competition. At that price, the Surface RT is “competitive”, but so far nobody has really had any hands-on experience with an actual Surface RT tablet, so the proof will be in the proverbial pudding.
There was some speculation that Microsoft would take a loss and price the Surface RT very aggressively in the $200 range. Such a bargain would be a double-edged sword, though, for Microsoft. It would virtually guarantee success out of the gate, and establish market share for the tablet newcomer, but it would also be difficult—if not impossible—to get people to pay a more reasonable price in the future once the $200 bar has been set.
[pcworld]
