JKing106
Banned
Obviously at the price they're asking for it, it isn't for anyone. $1 billion in unsold inventory is a statement to that fact.
Apple sells theirs for that much because they can, and people are willing to pay it. Their products are mature, their app store is mature, and most people are pleased and satisfied with their purchases. Microsoft does not have the presence or maturity in the mobile market to demand Apple prices. The $1 billion write down should have clued them in to this fact. They could have owned the enterprise tablet/hybrid market by underselling Apple with a full featured RT that wasn't crippled, but no, they tried to upsell enterprise to the $900 niche Pro.
Who is trolling? I'm just telling the truth. The RT/Pro is a decent product that will be killed by Microsoft's incompetence and arrogance, just like the Zune was. And that's a damn shame.
Obviously at the price they're asking for it, it isn't for anyone. $1 billion in unsold inventory is a statement to that fact.
Value is in the eye of the beholder.
Assuming it cost $275 and they are selling it at $449, That's 44% margin, which really isn't that high in the electronics world, unless you are talking about the bottom feeders. I am a digital hardware engineer that develops electronic products for a living and know how this goes.
So, there is the question of what a reasonable selling price is and that's really up to Micorsoft and the market to decide, but... Obviously, there is manufacturing costs. There also has to be payback for NRE in developing the HW and SW. EROI can't be zero or your company can't afford to develop products. There is marketing costs, and these costs can't be zero or you would never even have access to the product in the first place. If MS doesn't market well, the product won't be developed and won't be good to you. There is sales cost, it doesn't magically appear in your lap when you pay the money, that costs money. Then, there is a sustaining cost, because you know that as soon as there is noise about GDR whatever, everyone will be clamoring on here for it.
So, assuming your $275 cost to build, the margins are still pretty low with all the other associated costs and might even be close to break-even. For the quality of product, the Surfaces are well priced. You want to bottom feed, there are these $299 Atom tablets popping up from Acer, Asus, whomever. It is not personally worth it to me to buy a product that has been cost-reduced to the point where it barely works (had this experience with a cheapo bottom rung Dell, never again). I have purchased products like this before and always regretted it. I will happily pay a bit extra for a good, quality product over a lower quality cheaper alternative. I don't shop at Wal Mart. Sick of junk.
I totally agree. $1 billion in unsold inventory is evidence of how much the original RT/Pros are valued.
We get. You believe the surface brand is too expensive. It's not for you. It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive something is, if we see value in it, we buy it. There are other brands out there that may suit your needs...i.e iPad. Even Panos stated, surface isn't for everyone
We get. You believe the surface brand is too expensive. It's not for you. It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive something is, if we see value in it, we buy it. There are other brands out there that may suit your needs...i.e iPad. Even Panos stated, surface isn't for everyone
You don't get it. This isn't about "you." It's about the success of the product line, *****. It's too damn expensive, period. It's not going to sell at iPad prices because it's not an iPad, and Microsoft needs to realize that.
It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive something is, if we see value in it, we buy it.
i'm not sure why this has gone on for seven pages. even though i'm buying a surface 2 and a pro 2, both are overpriced.
why?
the hardware is top notch. the reason the hardware is overpriced isn't due to lack of quality hardware. it's because windows 8 can't YET offer the comprehensive experience that apple, for example, can. that's the problem. i love windows 8.1, but the apps and overall experience are still lacking on every platform. the ecosystem is still weak. that matters. if you want top dollar for your quality hardware, the software better be right better be right across all platforms.
microsoft has a lot of work to do and they've shown they are more than capable. the surface proves they can build better hardware than apple. bing maps shows that they can bet google at something that google really perfected. and microsoft has shown they can really innovate. 8.1 is impressive, imo. now they need to get third party developers on board. how do they do that? get surface into people hands and homes! give he hardware away if you have to. when you can offer a better or comparable experience and have convinced people of that, that's when you can go head to head on price. the market is there and microsoft has to pursue it, but i'm not sure they're willing to take the short term hit in order to gain significant future market share. consider any losses an investment.
@JKing106
Your opening paragraph is condescending and presumptuous. You then tried to tell me what my thinking is.
I was just trying to explain pricing, not be a cheerleader or call you a troll. People seem to want to look at raw component costs when that is no where near the total cost to produce a product. I design products for a living; I see where the costs are. Just explaining that.
If MS prices like the cheapo tablet products they will lose money and be considered crap. Why go bottom feeding and leave money on the table while destroying your brandname? It won't help the platform in the long term. Making a good product will, and Microsoft is playing a long-game, like they always do. I do doubt that MS is getting Apple's margins on Surface.
My decision to buy a Surface or any other tablet or gadget will never make any rational, defensible financial sense anymore than my decision to buy Forza 4 did because it is just a want that doesn't serve a purpose other than being what I want; a luxury.
Exactly. A lot less people saw the value in the Surface RT that Microsoft saw. That's why they sold about 25% of what they expected to sell.
Yeah especially joining the tablet world years after the competition has been dominating....You really expected Microsoft to sell like Apple or Android? get real kid...Surface came out with a brand new App store that didnt have a whole lot. Look at it now, a year later. Its a huge difference.
I wouldnt take an iPad for free "and i owned one before" Because its crap lol, but hey thats my opinion.
That's a pretty ridiculous statement, especially considering the situation of getting an iPad for free, it could easily be sold... And while the app store has most definitely improved, it still has a long way to go.
After the iPad mini retina announcement setting it at a $399 price tag to start, I wen't back on picking one up in favour of a Surface 2.
I swung by the Microsoft Kiosk to grab one, but after playing with the display model, I've decided to hold off again. The hardware is amazing; it's thing and light, and the new grey case looks great, but something still feels off about Windows 8.1 RT, so I think I'll wait a bit longer.