What do you think about the price?

[surfacedude]

The market is what, saying that an upper-mid-range laptop (which often sells for around $1,000+) squeezed into a tablet body should cost $500? The RT is an iPad competitor, and it is going to sell for less than the equivalent iPad by $150 or so. What you're claiming is "the market" is a total failure of cost recognition, I think.

umm...not quite. consumers don't and shouldn't care about "cost recognition." that's the job of the manufacturer, microsoft. microsoft determines whether or not they think consumers will buy a product and what they are willing to pay for that product. if you want top dollar for your product, then you better deliver an outstanding product relative to the competition. this is precisely why surface rt failed. i have one and love, but i can admit it failed. microsoft lost nearly a billion dollars on it. that's a failure by any metric unless the plain was to loss a ton of money. imo, it failed because of microsoft's strange marketing strategy AND hardware that was outdated even before the product was released. speed, screen resolution, volume...just those three alone make it impossible for the surface rt to really compete w/ the ipad. being able to run word doesn't make up for that and if a keyboard is supposed to sway buyers, most of them will choose an ipad w/ all of the available apps and just buy a separate keyboard if typing is that important for the experience they want.

the problem isn't consumers, it's microsoft. they chosen to only get serious about phones, tablets, and hardware only after the market has been completely saturated by apple and to a much lesser extent, google. to break into the market, you need to think long term. offering a straight up competitor will fail because apple offers an outstanding ecosystem that works and is elegant. converting folks over from ipads means you need to be offering something incredible at an incredible price, not somthing at a comparable price that offers an inferior experience. just think if microsoft had saud, "you know what, we've set ourselves a very hard task: breaking into a consumer market dominated by apple to the tune of something like 90%. we will have to win not just buyers, but convert some buyers. with that in mind, let manage loses and plan to take a financial hit to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars over the next three cycles and offer our tablets at an incredible price. and we must also offer at least a comparable product. hopefully at the end of this experiment we will have built a legitimate alternative to ipad and airbooks. at that time we will re-evaluate our product strategy for profit opportunities."

kind of like losing a battle or two, but winning the war....

 

[hcrick]

Isn't it possible that MS is simply positioning the Surface line as a premium grade, high quality, best in class product? It will be the numerous OEM products that end up offering the superior value you speak of. It will be the OEM's cumulative efforts that will make the biggest dent in the market. The upcoming products from Asus, Dell, HP, and Acer are a great start and offer tremendous value and potential, at least on paper. We will see how they perform real world.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

I think that MSFT knows who they're targeting, but I'm curious to see how competing tablets such as the upcoming Lumia compete with the Surface 2. How much will Nokia's success with their tablet influence the Surface 3 once the merger is complete?

Honestly, if the Surface 2 was a 64GB model with the touch keyboard at $500, I could justify getting it over the Asus T100 - because the built in USB port, direct MSFT support and better build quality offset the fact that it runs RT instead of full Windows. Honestly, RT is enough for my needs, but when you're offering full windows at a lower price point, for the budget consumer like myself, it is a no brainer.

 

[coolqf]

I think that MSFT knows who they're targeting, but I'm curious to see how competing tablets such as the upcoming Lumia compete with the Surface 2. How much will Nokia's success with their tablet influence the Surface 3 once the merger is complete?

Honestly, if the Surface 2 was a 64GB model with the touch keyboard at $500, I could justify getting it over the Asus T100 - because the built in USB port, direct MSFT support and better build quality offset the fact that it runs RT instead of full Windows. Honestly, RT is enough for my needs, but when you're offering full windows at a lower price point, for the budget consumer like myself, it is a no brainer.

I'm sure they know who they're targetting, but I wonder if they know whether they're actually reaching them Afteralll, they did write off nearly $1 bil USD last year for the Surface RT.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Isn't it possible that MS is simply positioning the Surface line as a premium grade, high quality, best in class product? It will be the numerous OEM products that end up offering the superior value you speak of. It will be the OEM's cumulative efforts that will make the biggest dent in the market. The upcoming products from Asus, Dell, HP, and Acer are a great start and offer tremendous value and potential, at least on paper. We will see how they perform real world.

If what you say about Microsoft's motives is true, then they appear to be as clueless as they've ever been. How can they produce a "best in class" product when the "class" doesn't exist yet? The Surface is a essentially a tablet replacement for netbooks. The Suface Pro, a tablet replacement for ultrabooks. It can be argued that those classes didn't exist prior to the introduction of the Surface. As such, they needed to carry that vision and cast it to consumers... and you don't do that by using an ad campaign of metrosexual hipsters prancing around swapping TypeCovers.

How did Microsoft reward the early adopters of the Surface products? Given the lackluster performance of the 1st gen RT, what is MS doing to thank those customers for taking a chance on their new product that has since seen one official price drop, and one or two additional price drops via bundling? What is MS doing to build customer loyalty beyond those who are already loyal? Individual consumers are not the Fortune 500. They aren't forced to buy Microsoft products because their CIO signed a contract. They have a choice.

I really like the Surface RT. Given Microsoft's poor track record of supporting their consumer devices, $199 for the bundle was the most that I was willing to pay for something that has a good possibility of being discontinued within the next 3 years.

Microsoft appears to be doing the same thing with the Surface that they did with the Zune. The arguments in support of Microsoft's actions also share that similarity. Why will the outcome be different this time?

 

[hcrick]

Microsoft's advertising campaign has been abysmal I agree, but is getting better. My point is that they are not relying on the Surface line to gain significant market share. If they were then I'd say they're clueless as well. Mass adoption of various OEM products (that offer better value) is what will lead to the proliferation Modern Windows; I believe this is Microsoft's first goal. This cannot be achieved by Surface alone and had they tried, they would have alienated the OEM's.

 

[MoggSquad]

I do think Surface 2 will probably be the best sub $500 tablet hardware and OS wise, but I do not plan on getting another one until they close the app gap.

Just a few things that I wish I could do on my RT that an Android/IOS can do:

Watch DirecTV online, NFL Sunday Ticket, and NFL Pre-season apps. I don't think these work through IE without a plugin that RT doesn't support.

Games Games Games! Heavy hitters such as all the Final Fantasy ports, Plant vs Zombies 2, Baldur's Gate, etc.
Halo Spartan Assault is the only game on the RT that I can think of that I would consider a "system seller".

Battlefield 4 comes out soon and will have a commander mode which they will have an Android/IOS app for. Unfortunately, will not for RT.

If you are talking work purposes: Full fledged GoToMeeting, Cisco AnyConnect, and NetExtender.

It's nice to be able to watch HBO Go and Amazon Instant Video via the browser, but not as optimal as having a dedicated app. I really don't like having to sign into HBO Go every time I want to watch something on there, especially if my keyboard is detached.

I use my Yoga 13 almost exclusively these days, but have started using my Surface RT again with win8.1 lately and I forgot how nice of a device it is.

I don't know how old your son is but the Windows Store has plenty of games. Including some you can play with a controller. IE and the built-in apps should cover all other basic needs I'd imagine. Unless there's a specific use-case you can't do with Windows RT?

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I do think Surface 2 will probably be the best sub $500 tablet hardware and OS wise, but I do not plan on getting another one until they close the app gap.

[ ... snipped .. ]

I use my Yoga 13 almost exclusively these days, but have started using my Surface RT again with win8.1 lately and I forgot how nice of a device it is.

Although I didn't have my RT long before upgrading to 8.1, I do appreciate the significant bump in performance and capabilities. I'm looking forward to the next round of updates to 8.1 on RT and apps.

Flipboard, Feedly, WriteRoom, etc. would be terrific.

But I'm finding that the RT functions better as a "netbook" than as a tablet. The aspect ratio (16:9 or 16:10) is just weird. The lackluster draw capabilities also tarnish the tablet experience.

 

[the_coolestnerd]

well to solve the problem with the keyboards.....i just went to ebay and got a touch cover for $30 lol

 

[mutant 9]

I think pricing is fine for the 2 especially since the will still sell the RT..

 

[Unicron109]

I know this is an old post now and this may well fall on deaf ears and been said already but pricing for the Surface 2 is not about whether it's worth what they are asking. Do I think its a premium product worth the price you bet. However it does not change the fact that RT is an unwanted OS with little to no ecosystem of apps consumers want and developers don't want to develop for. What's a great way to change that get RT in consumers hands. Easiest way to do that is a low price. Not to mention how great the original Surface RT sold (sarcasm).

 

[SwimSwim]

My one big complaint is how they don't bundle a Touch or Type Cover. That's what's really killing it. Every Surface ad shows one being used, and let's face it, half the point of the Surface is the awesome Touch and Type Covers. So then why does Microsoft have the audacity to make it cost an extra $120+ to use what's pretty much the whole point of the device, on top of the $450 or $900+ device?

Bonkers, really, bonkers...

 

[fc000]

My one big complaint is how they don't bundle a Touch or Type Cover. That's what's really killing it. Every Surface ad shows one being used, and let's face it, half the point of the Surface is the awesome Touch and Type Covers. So then why does Microsoft have the audacity to make it cost an extra $120+ to use what's pretty much the whole point of the device, on top of the $450 or $900+ device?

Bonkers, really, bonkers...

I agree, for the $449 asking price for the Surface 2, a touch-cover should have been included. It's constantly marketed with the cover, it should come with the damn cover.

I think Microsoft made a huge mistake not releasing a Surface Mini at the same time. It would have created a better price anchor assuming it's going to be sold at or below $329 without "cover" support due to the limiting size. By having such a product beside the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, it would have filled that void of a low-cost, high quality product many people want.

As much as I like to buy one, I know I won't be getting a Surface 2. I can't justify the cost for a device that still has too many limitations. I currently have a Surface Pro to "get work done". I need a smaller device at a lower cost than $449 for more casual always-on usage, and an iPad Mini 2 which will be announced on the 22nd will more than likely be my next purchase.

 

[Daylife]

I agree, for the $449 asking price for the Surface 2, a touch-cover should have been included. It's constantly marketed with the cover, it should come with the damn cover.

I think Microsoft made a huge mistake not releasing a Surface Mini at the same time. It would have created a better price anchor assuming it's going to be sold at or below $329 without "cover" support due to the limiting size. By having such a product beside the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, it would have filled that void of a low-cost, high quality product many people want.

As much as I like to buy one, I know I won't be getting a Surface 2. I can't justify the cost for a device that still has too many limitations. I currently have a Surface Pro to "get work done". I need a smaller device at a lower cost than $449 for more casual always-on usage, and an iPad Mini 2 which will be announced on the 22nd will more than likely be my next purchase.

Its called profit, for $450 you're getting FULL Office, 1080P Screen, brand new CPU Tegra 4, amazing build quality, 200Gb skydrive, Skype.......yet you want more.....And you complain about "limitations" yet you want an iPad Mini 2 LMFAO.......Now that's a laugh.

 

[hcrick]

I need a smaller device at a lower cost than $449 for more casual always-on usage, and an iPad Mini 2 which will be announced on the 22nd will more than likely be my next purchase.

Then you need to look elsewhere other than Apple. ipad mini 32gb is only $20 less than Surface 2 (32GB), ipad 32gb is $150 more than Surface 2. Dell, Asus, and others will have offerings from $299-$349 depending on size.

 

[berty6294]

Unless they offered a type cover bundle, wouldn't have made much a difference to me. although, I think it would have benefited sales and the consumers in general.

 

[paulo_mealha]

This price is not smart when compared with the competition. If they want to win more market share they must have more competitive prices!

 

[sinic999]

I personally think that the price for the surface tablets only is fair enough. However the covers' prices are too expensive in my opinion. Maybe if they reduce it to around 80 - 90 dollars. That will be fair enough. Regardless of the price, I am still buying them though.

 

[Daylife]

This price is not smart when compared with the competition. If they want to win more market share they must have more competitive prices!

Compared to what?.......Please explain, don't throw bull**** out unless you back it up lol.

 

[Daylife]

I personally think that the price for the surface tablets only is fair enough. However the covers' prices are too expensive in my opinion. Maybe if they reduce it to around 80 - 90 dollars. That will be fair enough. Regardless of the price, I am still buying them though.

Ill agree with you here, but there are no keyboards like it. But i would say $60- $90 would fit just fine.