Microsoft cuts Surface Pro price by $100 following Surface RT reductions
Microsoft is discounting its Surface Pro tablet this weekend, following heavy reductions to its Surface RT costs recently. The 10 percent price cut to Surface Pro reduces the cost of the 64GB and 128GB models by $100 each in the US.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Surface line has been repriced all summer: Microsoft cut the base Surface RT to $349 earlier in July, and this weekend's move extends discounting to the higher-end Pro, trimming 10 percent off both US configurations. The timing is notable — days earlier the company's annual 10-K filing disclosed Surface revenue of $853 million, the first public figure for the tablet business.
First-order effects
- US buyers can pick up either Surface Pro configuration for $100 less this weekend, directly lowering the entry cost of Microsoft's flagship Windows 8 tablet against Apple's iPad lineup.
Second-order effects
- PC makers selling their own Windows 8 tablets now face Microsoft undercutting them on its in-house hardware, complicating the partner pitch that Windows OEMs and Surface can coexist at similar prices.
Third-order effects
- If the RT-then-Pro discounting sequence becomes the norm, Surface margins become secondary to seeding Windows 8 device share, pushing Microsoft toward a hardware-as-distribution model rather than a profit-center model — a structural question its own filings will have to keep answering.
The trend: Microsoft is spending Surface hardware margin to buy Windows tablet share against the iPad, with successive price cuts across the line as the visible instrument.