The Surface RT, the lower powered of the two Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) tablets, has not been selling well. The tablet, which runs the less powerful of the two variations of Windows 8 offered by the company, saw a price drop of $150 today, presumably to make up for that fall in demand.
The tablet is now being offered for $349 at its least powerful configuration according to the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) website. Up until today, the device had been selling for $500 for the same configuration. The price cuts are, according to regional checks, being mirrored at the company’s website around the world.
Poor sales
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has not sold many Surface RT tablets. The device is seen as underpowered when compared to its big brother, the Surface Pro, and the number of applications available in its store is far less than the numbers available for tablets offered by competitors, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG).
The $500 price tag originally put on the tablet set it on an equal footing with the iPad and other feature filled tablets. Consumers obviously didn’t agree. Whether or not the drop to an iPad Mini price point impresses value on consumers remains to be seen.
Microsoft’s first ever computer
The Surface RT was the first ever hardware computer released by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), one of the most famous computer companies in the world. Since its release in October of 2012, the device has not sold well. Bloomberg estimated in May that the company had sold around 1.5 million tablets in total, with just 400,000 Surface RT models helping make up that number.
The new price on the tablet is low, but it is far from the cheapest tablet on the market. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is offering its Nexus 7 tablets for around $200, while several other competitors in the Android market offer similar deals. The Surface RT is not competing on price, so what exactly is it competing on?
What next for Surface?
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQMSFT) is in a fugue with its tablets. Surface sales are disappointingly low, and there appears to be little improvement that can be made, at least until the models are due for an upgrade.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is trying to get the Surface RT into as many hands as possible. The more people who get their hands on the tablet, the more who are likely to be sucked into the Microsoft ecosystem. That plan hasn’t really worked quite yet.
