Aug
06
2013
Surface Pro Tablet Prices Drop $100!
Recently, the Microsoft family of surface tablets, the Surface RT and Surface Pro, have been struggling with sales. Microsoft created these two tablets with the intention to challenge the Apple iPad, but recent price drops of $100 to $150 and sale numbers have indicated that the original strategy that Microsoft planned, was not as successful as they were hoping.
Just a few weeks ago, Microsoft dropped the price of the Surface RT Tablet which was originally $500 to $350, the Surface Pro tablet prices to $799 from it's original $899, and the 128Gb which is $899, but used to be $999. A Microsoft spokesman stated that the price drops had happened to allow more people to get their hands on the beautiful, crafty, and productive tablet, but everyone is sure that is not the reason.
Since the very beginning, Microsoft did not hit the numbers they were anticipating for. Microsoft had to take a $900 million write-down which was mostly due to unsold inventory. It is also odd that Microsoft has not stated the amount of Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets that have been sold, most likely because they still do not want to admit that they did not sell nearly as much as they wanted. Now the two tablets aren't terribly bad, but they started out very overpriced, and were lacking some features that Microsoft's competitor, Apple, had.
Microsoft advertised Windows 8 a lot with both the Surface Tablet RT and Pro, but both were lacking functions. Some big cons that many people were not happy about were that Flash Player only worked on approved websites, on the RT. The RT is also missing iTunes, Photoshop, web browsers, and tons of popular games like Call of Duty. One of the biggest drawbacks about the RT is that you can only buy apps through the Windows Store, and the Windows Store only has a fraction of apps compared to the App Store from Apple, and the apps that Microsoft has to buy aren't that good, and many are overpriced.
These are big reasons why the RT and Pro didn't sell as much as they wanted, because the tablets were missing many of the features that people want in a tablet, that computers have. Microsoft advertised being able to use the Surface RT as a real computer, but it was missing the key functions that everyone wanted. The Surface also was very "confusing" compared to it's competitor, the iPad. It had a lot of applications and everything just seemed too tight. This made it feel like you never knew what to do. The intention was for it to be both a Computer and Tablet in one, but that somewhat failed because you couldn't use the Tablet as easily as you could use a computer.
Microsoft's plan of offering the best tablet to the market didn't work out so well which is why they are having such large price drops, to try and sell their unsold inventory! The Surface RT and Pro could have been very successful, but Microsoft didn't focus on what the customer wanted. They just tried to "reel in" their customers by using "cool" and cunning commercials featuring young college kids doing some pretty cool tricks, throwing the tablet and using the detachable keyboard also. But these cool features that we saw in the commercials weren't as good as they seemed. Usually the commercials featured a few apps, which were the most useful apps that made everyone "want" a Surface. But when someone gets their hands on the Surface, they get bored of it very quickly.
The Surface Pro Tablet prices showed all of the Surface's competitors that it wasn't doing well. There were tons of factors that led to this price drop, which Microsoft could have avoided. Unfortunately, what left viewers in more awe were the commercials other then the actually tablet themselves, which Microsoft could have improved greatly. Hopefully with their next tablet they will make one that will actually fit to a customers need for a tablet and a computer all in one.
Surface RT Price Cuts (July 2013): Get a Surface for $349!