Just 9 days after our previous article on Microsoft Surface, it is in the news again. Previously, Microsoft had reduced the price for educational customers to just £199. Now, ordinary people can buy it from just £279 (was £399). It's a step in the right direction, but note that at this price you do not receive the keyboard cover that makes it double as a sort of mini laptop. A model with the keyboard costs £359, although if you get it from John Lewis you also get a two year warranty (good) and 6 months free broadband (less useful, unless you are particularly looking to change supplier). Rumours have also surfaced (no pun intended!) that there will be a new model released before too long.
Microsoft's Surface was launched alongside Windows 8 last October. It is a bit like an iPad, but runs a special version of Windows known as Windows RT and comes with a keyboard as standard (the cover cleverly doubles as a keyboard). It also comes with Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). It is beautifully made, with a light but strong magnesium case. Made for Microsoft by a company called Pegatron, it's actually a very nice piece of kit. Problem is, not many people want to buy it. It is said that Microsoft's forecast was for sales of 2 million in the first 3 months; in reality, it shipped around 400,000 in the first 5 months. By way of comparison, Apple sold 14 million iPads in that same quarter. Despite a price cut to £399, sales are reported as very slow. But Microsoft are not giving up. For educational users, the price has now been slashed to £199 in the UK and $199 in the USA. In addition, Microsoft have given away 10,000 units to US schools. The aim of this is to help kick-start the market; at $199 it is less than half the price of an iPad. The UK price of £199 is perhaps less compelling, but still generating interest in some educational circles. Question is: what happens next? Does this indicate that Microsoft are pulling out and simply clearing stock? Or maybe getting rid of stock prior to the launch of a new model (perhaps one that can more easily connect to networks)? Will the price for regular consumers - the sort of people who shop in John Lewis and PC World (the few retailers that sell it) - also fall to £199 in a couple of months? At £199 or less it starts to become an impulse purchase, appealing paradoxically to those who don't understand its limitations as well as those who do but can live with them. It will be interesting to see what happens next! |
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