I saw an article or really a statement made from a Microsoft insider/writer saying MS has no plans to drop the price down any further on pro or RT. That MS plans to sell these units alongside new models. I do think MS is making a mistake if they price the new RT at the same initial price as the first generation one. No matter how good it is. Its obvious that at a lower price point, these things sell very fast as its too good of a deal to pass up. Although not full blown windows, its custom version of windows aka windows ported to ARM, is still far more capable of productivity tasks than android or JOS.
There was another great article discussing what would ultimately take MS and Intel to get ahead in tablet segment. It said they must deliver premium goods, as they have, but priced at a loss. Think about it. Microsoft and Intel are really the only companies who are big and successful enough to eat a huge loss, profits wise, and still be fine. They need to take this initial loss to gain market share. Forget profits, for now. This is really one of the only ways to gain a more significant share. They need to undercut apple as any tablet that has been priced higher than an iPad hasn't really been successful.
Although Xbox won the console wars, as far as sales go, Sony has a similar story. Remember how all their playstation3 devices were sold at a loss in the beginning? Sony stuck with it. Eventually with improvements in technology and manufacturing processes, it became cheaper for them to make PS3. That lead to the losses not being as much. Then eventually Sony pulled ahead. They broke even on costs then started to turn huge profits. How were they able to eat such huge losses initially? Because of how huge and successful they are in other fronts. They have the financial power to of made such a huge risk. As we can see, it paid off and Sony has now made tons of money of their game console.
Same could easily apply to MS and Intel. They have that long money to where they can make a big risk/power move like this. The focus would be on long term goal. They can make this happen. We see how MS ate the huge loss on initial RT then drastically reduced the price. Now the RT is selling like crazy and getting lots of tech press on it. People are seeing it as a deal too good to pass up. Also cheap enough to take risk on a new OS if they don't like it. From what I've experienced with my new RT so far, it really is a great looking and feeling premium device. it was tainted by poor marketing.
MS has said it has learned alot from the initial RT. only 2 more days left until we see if they really have. I hopemthey surprise everyone amd offer these new devices at a lower price poont than 1st generation. or at least include keyboard covers with them. look at the new asus t100. it runs full nlow wim8.1 amd comes with a keyboard for only $349. although it has a less powerdul processor than pro, beimg bay trail, its looking like a great deal. I expect asus tp sell alot of those come October when its released.
