Posted on Wednesday, August 15 2012 @ 18:22 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
The Register
reports rumors point to a $199 price tag for Microsoft's ARM-based Surface tablet. Such a low price seems hard to believe, it means Microsoft would sell its tablet at a significant loss, and will certainly piss off the software giant's hardware partners.
Engadget reports that the $199 price point was unveiled at the recent TechReady 15 conference, an internal technical event for Microsoft employees, during a session that gave details of the Surface launch.
The $199 retail price is only said to apply to the ARM-based Windows RT version of the device, which will ship on October 26, the same day as Windows 8. Surface devices running full Windows 8 on Intel won't arrive until 2013.
If the rumor is true, that would make the devices significantly less expensive for consumers than earlier estimates suggested. As of June, analysts were expecting Surface devices running Windows RT to retail for $599, while the x86-based Windows 8 models were expected to go for $799 or more.
