Acer chairman JT Wang has his fingers crossed that Microsoft won't price its Surface tablet lower than his company's own offerings, CNET reports.
But a Digitimes report says Microsoft is looking to create a price chasm between Surface and competing tablets. "Microsoft is currently looking for solutions such as creating a price gap to minimise the negative impact on other vendors' product lineups," the report says.
If Microsoft does price it at $199 (the same price as Google's Nexus 7), it would have a big impact on sales of competing products. But anywhere around $499 to $599 would have "a lot smaller" impact, according to the report. Hence Acer is praying for the higher price.
Microsoft is still keeping its cards close to its chest regarding the price of the Surface. All it's said on the matter is: "Suggested retail pricing will be announced closer to availability and is expected to be competitive with a comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC." But that isn't all that much help given the huge variety of ARM tablets out there.
Microsoft surprised all its partners by announcing Surface, its own Windows 8 tablet. Competing with your partners doesn't seem great business sense to me, but I'll assume Microsoft knows what it's doing.
Acer seems particularly irked by Microsoft's decision. It told Microsoft to think twice about the device just this week. The same JT Wang told the Financial Times: "We have said, 'Think it over. Think twice.' It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction."
A couple of months ago, a senior VP from Acer also told Reuters that Microsoft will fail in its fight with Apple and the iPad.
Trouble in paradise, then. Is Acer right to be annoyed at Microsoft? And how much should the Surface cost? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
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anonymous 13 August, 2012 08:40
10in ARM tablets generally aren't less than £300 though, and that's for something with far lower spec, a comparable spec would be closer to £400/£500. The £200 or less market is occupied by 7inch machines. So I don't see that comment as vague at all. Classic example of a clear statement being made and people looking too far into it, ignoring certain facts, and creating a sensational headline from it.
damien2501 13 August, 2012 10:17
Doesnt Acer realize all this is positive publicity for microsofts new tablets
professerclever 13 August, 2012 10:54
And Mr Wang, a price point of $1,000 will have a smaller impact still! They will charge whatever the market will bear, yet still have figures insignificant compared to the iPad as the market is already saturated.
ace9988 13 August, 2012 23:03
the whole point of outselling your competitors will involve an aggressive pricing strategy so it flies off the shelves. The clever bit comes in making a profit, if it gives competition to the iPad (legitimate not lawsuit) then go for it MS, if any of your corporate 'allies' don't like it, they'll just have to come up with a market beater that WORKS this time (keyword = WORKS), or they have no right to comment on what you do. Simple as