Microsoft May Cut Prices on Software for Windows Tablets

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Microsoft apparently wants to make Windows RT more attractive to OEMs.

Microsoft's Windows 8 tablets aren't exactly taking the world by storm. It seems the company may be ready to try to give things a boost by dropping the price of software for manufacturers producing Windows 8 machines.

Bloomberg cites people familiar with the matter who say Microsoft may cut the price of Windows RT. These sources say the price cuts would affect Windows RT for small-sized tablets, which means tablets running the full version of Windows 8 likely won't see any changes in pricing. What's more, it's up to manufacturers to pass those savings on to customers. Regardless, it should boost the selection of Windows 8 devices sitting on shelves. That should go a long way in terms of brand recognition.

The fact that Microsoft is finally putting Windows 8 on smaller devices will help too. Today, Acer introduced us to the Inconia W3, an 8-inch Windows 8 device priced at $379 (before the addition of the optional Bluetooth keyboard and stand). Though it is the industry's first 8-inch Windows 8 tablet, it's likely that Computex 2013 will bring several more.

Jane McEntegart
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • TunaSoda
    Get rid of RT, now that's a good approach ;)-
    Reply
  • razor512
    Microsoft will sell a lot more RT tablets if they made them come with android by default.
    Reply
  • stevejnb
    RT is fine (for what is essentially a toy), Windows tablets are fine, their products are fine... Their pricing is out of this world for an unknown product with a weak app store. You can get Android tablets the same size for less than half the cost and an iPad mini for roughly the same. Not a fan of Apple, but it does have a*far* more established ecosystem.
    Reply
  • w8gaming
    Microsoft always assume that Windows 8 OS is great for tablets because you can run Office on it. However, they seem to not realizing the fact that (1) they do not have MS Office running on Metro UI yet, and running MS Office in desktop mode without keyboard and mouse will drive users crazy. That means to be useful, the tablets must come bundled with some kind of keyboard and touchpad and that will drive up the cost. (2) Tablets are being seen as a cheap, easy to use, media consumption device, those who wants productivity mostly prefer a normal desktop or notebook. Only a small segment who prefer the tablets will care about productivity such as MS Office. What MS should do, is to offer RT free for vendor, so that vendor can produce cheap tablet at the same price of Android tablets. Bundle RT with good music and video players, maybe some games exclusive to Metro UI. If users want to run MS Office on RT, let them buy it. Bring the RT tablet prices down to the same level as Nexus 7 or they will never sell.
    Reply
  • w8gaming
    Microsoft always assume that Windows 8 OS is great for tablets because you can run Office on it. However, they seem to not realizing the fact that (1) they do not have MS Office running on Metro UI yet, and running MS Office in desktop mode without keyboard and mouse will drive users crazy. That means to be useful, the tablets must come bundled with some kind of keyboard and touchpad and that will drive up the cost. (2) Tablets are being seen as a cheap, easy to use, media consumption device, those who wants productivity mostly prefer a normal desktop or notebook. Only a small segment who prefer the tablets will care about productivity such as MS Office. What MS should do, is to offer RT free for vendor, so that vendor can produce cheap tablet at the same price of Android tablets. Bundle RT with good music and video players, maybe some games exclusive to Metro UI. If users want to run MS Office on RT, let them buy it. Bring the RT tablet prices down to the same level as Nexus 7 or they will never sell.
    Reply
  • koss64
    @w8Gaming
    I disagree with you,my fiance wants a tablet becasue she is tired of carrying around her heavy laptop.She wants a small tablet like a 7 or 8 inch tablet that runs Microsoft Office so she can work on the go.Hence right now im waiting on those cheap windows 8.1 tablets that I can a attach a keyboard onto and no she hates Android and its inconsistencies(loves the price though) with Office and the overall disjointed expereince.
    Reply
  • koss64
    @w8Gaming
    I disagree with you,my fiance wants a tablet becasue she is tired of carrying around her heavy laptop.She wants a small tablet like a 7 or 8 inch tablet that runs Microsoft Office so she can work on the go.Hence right now im waiting on those cheap windows 8.1 tablets that I can a attach a keyboard onto and no she hates Android and its inconsistencies(loves the price though) with Office and the overall disjointed expereince.
    Reply
  • Osmin
    Microsoft would make more money as a software company making MS Office available for Android and iOS rather than to try and compete as a hardware company selling RT tablets with Office.
    Reply
  • koss64
    @w8Gaming
    I disagree with you,my fiance wants a tablet becasue she is tired of carrying around her heavy laptop.She wants a small tablet like a 7 or 8 inch tablet that runs Microsoft Office so she can work on the go.Hence right now im waiting on those cheap windows 8.1 tablets that I can a attach a keyboard onto and no she hates Android and its inconsistencies(loves the price though) with Office and the overall disjointed expereince.
    Reply