HappySqurriel said:
| disolitude said:
I think you are looking at the wrong market and very short term strategy here. Also I think you are struggling to see Surface and Windows 8 in general as a premium product if you think it should cost 200 dollars.
If a product like Surface is offered at netbook like pricing, Microsoft would be screwing themselves hardcore. In the grand scheme of things, they really don't care how much a Surface sells. The point of the product was to raise awareness about Windows 8 and RT, and offer a cool hardware design that makes cool comercials.
The real goal for microsoft is to get OEM's to keep buying 80 dollar Windows 8/RT licenses. Selling the Surface for cheap will do nothing but cause them to lose money on hardware, while undercutting the OEM's with their own hardware hence causing them to lose Windows 8 software revenue.
Finally the Surface Pro compares very favorably to anything out there with same features. There is a professional market out there that absolutely needs an i5 or higher and a Wacom digitizer. Look up how much devices that have both cost, and what kind of weight and battery life they offer.
I agree that the surface RT is kind of a tough sell at 499 when an iPad is the same price (until it gets a better app library and more features) but an x86 tablet at $499-$599 with similar battery life and portability is a no brainer for me. There is quite a few of those available already...
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I fail to see how Windows 8 or the Surface are premium products because they're not premium products, and their poor sales reflect that:
http://blogs.computerworld.com/windows/21426/are-windows-8-sales-dismal-they-seem
http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-surface-deemed-dud-q4-sales-could-come-142042622.html
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There has been a crapload of sales articles presenting both sides of the coin. Last I heard is that Windows 8 upgrades are at 40 million in 3 weeks which is beating Windows 7 upgrades. Microsoft hasn't shed any light on surface sales, not does it matter if the device sells 5 million or 500K units, because of reasons explained above.
I've seen this talk before, the infamous Microsoft Windows doom and gloom. Honestly Windows 8 launch reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day. It's exactly the same day microsoft is reliving with Windows 8 as they did with XP. And look how that turned out.
Lastly, ths I fail to see this whole "it's premium product only if it sells" argument. Britney Spears sells a lot of records...
Spend some time with a windows 8 tablet and look at the interface and its capabilities and then compare it to the competition to see why Windows 8 is a premium product.
