End Results of Surface RT Black Friday Sales

[calfee20]

So what effect do you think all these Surface sales will have on the market's perception of the Surface and RT.

Will people think "Wow look at the fire sale. They must be junk.". Or

Will putting more product out raise the awareness level of the Surface and help with it's acceptance.

It seems people have to actually try one or see one being used and doing things other tablets can't before they realize what a good device they are. So what do you think the perception of Surface will be going into next year and will all these Black Friday deals help or hurt?

 

[dznk]

I would say (and hope) the latter should be the case, whereby it raises the awareness of it a bit more and people may well opt to buy it at such a cheap price, when they may have been thinking of buying another product. I just looked at the reviews on Best Buy and it gets an average of over 4 out of 5, which is very good, so hopefully the Black Friday sale will mean more sales of the Surface and more people spreading the word after a few weeks on how they like it. It's much better for Microsoft to sell the older RT model at a bargain price and just get them in the hands of people, rather than sitting on remaining stock that they have left of them. The more people that use the product, the more likely word of mouth about it gets around, which could well end up resulting in more sales and upgrades to the newer ones in the future.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I think if anything it will spur app development, since market share will be increased.

 

[calfee20]

It's much better for Microsoft to sell the older RT model at a bargain price and just get them in the hands of people, rather than sitting on remaining stock that they have left of them. The more people that use the product, the more likely word of mouth about it gets around, which could well end up resulting in more sales and upgrades to the newer ones in the future.

I was thinking the same thing and it makes me wonder how things were discussed and how decisions were made at MS. Perhaps they figured out they needed X number of machines to make it to market one way or another to make a certain impact. Try to get this price and if we can't get them out there because we need a certain market penetration to get this line started.

 

[dznk]

Yep, I'm pretty sure Microsoft in doing this RT Black Friday sale are not looking at profit at all. It's to clear some of the units they still have remaining and to get the numbers of people using Surfaces (and in turn Windows 8.1) to go up.

As Laura mentioned, the higher the number of people using this platform, the more developers will be interested. I don't think just this Black Friday sale though will see a big spike in overall Windows 8.1 usage, as there are already millions of people using it, but it will certainly help. You'll find nowadays quite a few large companies do this now. Whereby they seem happy to sell products at cost, just to boost numbers and gain money down the road in app fees, games, advertisement etc. Amazon sell the Kindle at around cost price, some phones are sold with very low profit margins, same with the latest games consoles, not much money to be made in the hardware. They all want you to be using their product, not neccessarily make the money from you buying the product at the start.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I'm absolutely certain that the Black Friday sales of the RT are going to generate a lot of buzz this holiday season. I have no inside information, but I clearly remember what happened in 2007 when Microsoft Black Friday'ed the Zune 30 ($99)... The Zune 30 became the "hot" electronic gadget that holiday season, and those who were not able to find one ended up trying to buy the Zune 80 (the 2nd gen of the Zune line) at full price but had difficulty with THAT because of low inventory. (keep in mind this was before the iPod Touch was announced and released))

Don't expect a thunderous stampede on Black Friday itself... the momentum and buzz will begin on cyberMonday. AFTER those who get their RT on Black Friday share their experiences with THEIR friends, that's when the wave will start.

History is about to repeat itself. I know from my sizable circle of acquaintances, they are already chomping at the bit to buy a BF RT. Once THEY get theirs and tell THEIR friends, it will gain momentum. It's going to be fun. I had a lot of fun helping friends and family find Zune 30s...

Yep, I'm pretty sure Microsoft in doing this RT Black Friday sale are not looking at profit at all. It's to clear some of the units they still have remaining and to get the numbers of people using Surfaces (and in turn Windows 8.1) to go up.

Microsoft still has warehouses filled to the rafters with Surface RT units. Between Black Friday and most likely an appearance on Woot!, they'll clear out the remaining inventory by year-end.

 

[mase123987]

I think people buying the T100 at $299 at the MS store would leave people with a lot better taste in their mouth. Surface RT was a well made product that never had enough processing power behind it.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I think people buying the T100 at $299 at the MS store would leave people with a lot better taste in their mouth. Surface RT was a well made product that never had enough processing power behind it.

We're talking about soccer moms and grandparents... they don't need cutting edge performance. At the $169, $199, $249 pricepoints, they'll be satisfied. Heck, they're satisfied with the $99 Chinese tablets at Big Lots... performance on those is far worse than the RT, even on a bad day.

 

[mase123987]

We're talking about soccer moms and grandparents... they don't need cutting edge performance. At the $169, $199, $249 pricepoints, they'll be satisfied. Heck, they're satisfied with the $99 Chinese tablets at Big Lots... performance on those is far worse than the RT, even on a bad day.

I am not talking cutting edge performance. The original iPad Mini has better performance. It has issues running just a few tabs in explorer.

It offers a lot feature wise, but performance is terrible. I have owned 2 of them hoping the 8.1 update would make a decent difference...it didn't.

I would tell people to get a Venue 8 Pro (numerous good deals for the season) instead if screen size isn't an issue.

 

[zma15]

Just out of curiosity. Does anybody know if these deals could also be found in Canada?
Ive checked all weekly flyers and have not found such a deal.
Thanks.

 

[pseudoware]

I am not talking cutting edge performance. The original iPad Mini has better performance. It has issues running just a few tabs in explorer.

It offers a lot feature wise, but performance is terrible. I have owned 2 of them hoping the 8.1 update would make a decent difference...it didn't.

I would tell people to get a Venue 8 Pro (numerous good deals for the season) instead if screen size isn't an issue.

If the 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 on RT is any faster than the Atom Z2760 in my Acer W510 w/full W8 (which I've read it is, slightly), I can live with that for the price.

I can deal with "managing" performance. This won't be a primary tablet for me, just a toy to get back in the ecosystem while I wait for the MicroKia thing to flesh stuff out and mature some.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[xandros9]

im having deja vu on this (not at hp touchpad levels though)

 

[ntice_521]

The best tablet bargain, by far, is still the Nook HD+. And you don't have to stand in line to get one!

 

[WillysJeepMan]

The best tablet bargain, by far, is still the Nook HD+. And you don't have to stand in line to get one!

Uh, not quite. I love the HD+ but it is a far,far cry from the RT.

As for standing inline, you can buy an RT today at bestbuy.com for $199 (if you are an elite or eliteplus rewardzone member). You can also buy one for $169 on Nov 28 on eBay. No standing in line either.

 

[ntice_521]

Uh, not quite. I love the HD+ but it is a far,far cry from the RT.

True. The HD+ screen is much better.

 

[wpoblation]

True. The HD+ screen is much better.

Did you flash it with Android already? I have mine at Stock ROM, and was giving it a few weeks at its native state, but its been laggy and the repetitive 'Nook syncing' is also disruptive and annoying. From what I've read, the Cyanogen Mod resolves all of this and boosts performance.

 

[ntice_521]

Did you flash it with Android already? I have mine at Stock ROM, and was giving it a few weeks at its native state, but its been laggy and the repetitive 'Nook syncing' is also disruptive and annoying. From what I've read, the Cyanogen Mod resolves all of this and boosts performance.

I've been running CM for a few days on SD card (dual boot) to try it out. The only thing I miss from stock is the epub/pdf reader. I'll probably install CM internally at some point...just need to screw up the courage.

 

[John20212]

We're talking about soccer moms and grandparents... they don't need cutting edge performance. At the $169, $199, $249 pricepoints, they'll be satisfied. Heck, they're satisfied with the $99 Chinese tablets at Big Lots... performance on those is far worse than the RT, even on a bad day.

Exactly, I was thinking of getting one for my parents if I can find a deal under $200 with cover included, and without the need to fight over it in a store.