It’s been four months since Microsoft announced the Surface tablets. There was a lot of drama surrounding the announcement back then. Microsoft had not let anyone play with the tablet and of course, they had kept the pricing under wraps as well. Now that we are just a few days away from the official Windows 8 launch, we are seeing a flurry of activities and announcements from Microsoft.
Currently, all the three variants are shown as “out of stock”. We aren’t sure how many units went on pre-order on Microsoft online store. But Microsoft is betting big on their new device. There are reports that Microsoft is ordering 5 million units from the manufacturing partner for the holiday season in US. Currently, the device is available only in US and can be ordered only via Microsoft online store.
The company has also listed the prices for its Touch Cover, at $119.99 each, and Type Cover for $129.99. Touch covers are available in 5 different colors – white, red, black, blue, and purple, while Type covers are available in Black alone. Microsoft is yet to reveal the pricing of Surface for Windows Pro. We expect it to be priced higher, and should be around $699 – $999 mark. Those of you wondering what’re the differences between Surface for Windows RT and Surface for Windows Pro, go read our comparison piece. There are differences in display, form factor, storage and of course, the OS itself. Microsoft is betting big on Surface tablets and plan to eat into Apple’s pie in tablet marketshare. For raw price comparison, 16GB WiFi only version of the new iPad starts at $499, while the 3G+WiFi version starts at $629. Microsoft Surface won’t come with 3G, which can be a deal breaker for some people.
