That would be very optimistic. Microsoft would surely almost loose money if the tablets were priced that low. Although it would ensure a VERY quick adoption of the W8 environment.
Why would they lose money ? Production costs of Windows RT tablets will in the $200-250 region at most. Microsoft can afford to sell their tablets without any extra profit on the hardware. Their profit will come from sales. 20-30% of each and every sale is a cash cow, that's why Apple, Google, MS and even Amazon do have their application/book/music/video markets.
If I were Microsoft I'd sell the tablets to break even so all the profit comes from the Store. It's important for MS to get some decent market share from Apple and Google. Remember when the PS3 was released? Sony making a loss on every sale just to improve uptake of the blu-ray format? I don't think MS will take this stance though :/
You have some optimistic construction costs. It's unlikely they have placed Samsung or apple like order numbers in the millions to get anywhere close to $250 to build, I'd imagine its closer to $400 for a first release, bill of materials is always higher on a new product once the manufacturing kicks in it will get cheaper to build. I'm still expecting £500 32gb rt and £650 for the 64gb with the pro around £850. That's my expectations, they would match up with competing apple iPad for rt and MacBook Air for ultrabook markets.
On the contrary, Microsoft have ordered between 3 and 4 million 10.6" screens to be made by Samsung. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-5...more-than-3-million-surface-tablets-says-idc/ that link predicts around 3 million units to be made this year. I can't imagine in a million years MS charging an extra £150 just for an extra 32GB storage. you can buy a 3000GB hard drive for less than that!! At most it will be £50 extra. And even that's an apple-esque rip off. You need to remember that unlike the iPad, the surface tablets are shipping with microSD slots. You can get a 32GB SD for around £15, why would you pay an extra £150 to have it built in? You're estimation of the Pro seems about right though.... unless MS decide to be nice :/
Rollo, your expected prices don't make any sense at all. Just a 200GBP markup for the display with higher resolution, high end Intel/Micron SSD flash instead of eMMC, more expensive CPU and you add only 200 GBP for all that ? My expectations are ~350€ for the RT version, probably 50€ more for the 64GB version, 700-800€ for the i5 ULV CPU - which is about right for the ultrabooks with same parameters. Considering MS doesn't need to add any profit on the hardware itself, it could be even a bit lower.
I reckon that RT will have to be at cost to boost the apps pool. The pro version will be priced the same or maybe slightly more expensive than the equivalent ultrabook. So there may be some margin added to the pro, or at least there will be sooner as the economies of scale kicks in. I'm pretty sure nothing will be below cost. The sales of RT and similar devices from others is I think the real make or break for microsoft and will have a knock on effect on the phone O/S sales.
Certainly seems that this is the likely way things will go ahead. If they sell the Pro's at £600 I suspect it will be at a loss. I think as long as big M break even they will be happy - they're a software company and this is a method of gaining market penetration for the software.
I think it's fair to say that if the Surface RT is priced over £500 then it won't sell well at all, by anyone's standards. It's encouraging that MS has ordered so many to be produced though, this should drive down the cost. Just read an interesting article in PC Pro about the 'PocketCell' by Innergie. http://www.myinnergie.com/PocketCell/Default.aspx It can charge any mobile device which takes mini-USB, micro-USB or Apple's wide connector. Do you guys think this would be compatible with the surface? Because if it is, we needn't worry about the battery life issue. The battery pack itself is only the size of a large USB and weighs just 70g, so it would be convenient to carry around with the Surface. It holds 3000mAh so should be able to fully recharge a tablet if said tablet were about to die. It's £59.99 on Amazon 3rd party, so it isn't cheap, but if you use it for your phone as well then I'd say it soon pays for itself. Fingers crossed it's compatible with the Surface :O
Interestingly according to iSuppli, the iPhone 5, which sells for $199,-- with contract, costs about $207,-- to manufacture. Of course the sale price is heavily subsidised by network providers, but the listed production cost is also without R&D, marketing and warranty cover added on. This means that Apple is also cutting into profit margins to price their gadget aggressively.
We live in rip off Britian and will get charged accordingly sadly, in less than 2-3 weeks pre orders should start so we will see what prices look like soon enough. For the Rt to get market penatration ms needs to sell close to cost wether it will happen or not is anyone's guess at the moment. Cheapest apple made ultrabook is £849 ms said they would be competitive so that's the pro price I expect and it has similar intel chip and ssd.
They don't. Unlocked price in US starts from $549 (without sales tax), and the ones with contract also give Apple a share on contract. Phones on contract are actually better for Apple than the unlocked ones, constant cashflow for next 2 years. @theshadow2001: MS doesn't need to sell anything cheap just to boost the app pool. Because Windows 8 is also the OS for PC, the apps will come. 352 million computers sold just in 2011 (and i guess these include only the full computers and laptops from the big manufacturers) according to wikipedia. In other words, a one year sales numbers of the big computer manufacturers is pretty much equal to ALL iOS devices sold so far. Add Windows Phone 8 devices to that, plus few million tablets they will sell in next year, and iOS is very marginal in that way. So, let's talk about that "app pool" again, sometime in middle of 2013 you will have more Windows 8 devices than all iOS devices ever sold (as i suspect many will upgrade their Windows XP/Vista/7 PC).
I think the pc market even though large will only augment the windows 8 app pool. But it won't be the main driving force. The RT is where the apps are absolutely required since there is no other way to get software on it but through the microsoft market. With pcs and x86 tablets I don't necessarily require the use of apps. Of course there will probably be no way to differentiate what drives the app store content. Perhaps the sales figures split by device type? Time will tell.
I know when I get the pro I won't be installing a single app onto it x86 all the way or what would be the point may as well save the cash and get the RT. With EA and Steam both having there own stores I just can't see the x86 application store taking off with major releases from both companies likely locked to either. Can't see me personally upgrading windows 7 to 8 and that's an opinion many on this forum share, the metro UI can not be disabled on latest build and till it is people wont upgrade because of it. Apples App Store on mac is totally different to the AppStore on iPad/iPhone. No suggestions that Microsoft could not do the same thing. They also have the same rules to application distribution as apple and the truth is the tech people went android in the first place for freedom not a locked down system and that could be where the RT suffers. Android has 4-500 million users and still struggles for developer support.
You sound a bit contradictory. Why would you pass on good Metro apps out of principle? Steam, EA, Windows App store: with Windows Pro 8 you can have the best of all worlds. And I suspect that we'll see Steam for RT soon enough... Regardless of what Microsoft and Newell say now. Most ordinary users quite like a trustworthy one-stop shop for their software, as the Apple app store has demonstrated. It has been a useful outlet (and good source of income) for many indie developers. Sure: some people went Android for freedom of choice. And the Android app store has really struggled to gain purchase until ICE and JB started to create some homogeneity of operating environment in the Android market. Download Android apps outside of the official Android market at your own risk... I think that choosing your tools should be based on pragmatics, not opinions.
http://www.clove.co.uk/samsung-ativ-tab windows rt tablet by samsung pricing is crazy £549 inc vat Lets hope microsoft does not release the surface at such crazy prices or it really is dead on arival.
Prices comming in for quiet a few companies now. $600 is cheapest by Asus ( comes without dock connector they are charging $200 for this ) Samsung one is $650 reports are microsoft is charging $85 for a RT licience fee to oems some hope we have of a sub £200 tablet from them i guess
How many prices have been released by the manufacturer as opposed to being guesses by sites offering the tablets for preorder?
