6 ms·
Goodbye cheap Windows 8 tablets: Windows RT costs OEMs $85 a pop
- hinathan 14y agoI'm a little baffled by the pricing here — Microsoft's goal in the desktop world seemed to more or less break even on OS and push the application suite for the real cash. Does anyone have a sense of whether this makes sense at all? Perhaps the 'preferred volume OEM' terms are hugely discounted.
- robert_nsu 14y agoThat $85 price tag is a Windows RT and Office Metro bundle. So, it's not _just_ Windows in question. I think the title should be adjusted to reflect this. Read this Windows Team blog post to see what I mean: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive...
- hinathan 14y agoAh, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks.
- stdgy 14y agoWhile it's true that they're bundled, it would also appear that Windows RT is only being delivered in bundled form(Unless I'm reading this blog post incorrectly). So if we accept that Windows RT itself is a bundle, the headline isn't particularly misleading.
- TheCondor 14y agoAre we witnessing something big here? I love my iPad because it doesn't have office. It's not a laptop, it's a whole new kind of personal computer. Maybe I'm wrong but it's nothing like a laptop and as long as they're trying to make it a laptop in a different form factor I just can't see it
- duaneb 14y agoReally? I chose my iPad because it was the only tablet with good office software.
- huxley 14y agoThey are fooling themselves if they think the Office bundle justifies the price. The rationale for the Office bundle should be to give an initial boost to an unproven platform and overcome the scarcity of Windows RT apps.
- lukeschlather 14y agoIf Office Metro is half as good as the current Microsoft Office, it will be worth $85 by itself. I say this as someone who doesn't own any Windows licenses. (Except a Windows 7 starter OEM license for my netbook.)
- nekojima 14y ago"the new iPad starts at $500. Premium Windows 8 tablets will likely run between $800 and $900." Which is why I am more than happy to stick with a much more functional & useful laptop, that's slim and has a long battery life. With the added bonus of a built-in cover for the screen, without having to add a bulky cover for that protection.
- yuhong 14y agoBut it is not as easy to use while carrying around. Which one you choose will ultimately depend on your needs. If you need both, there are convertible tablets.
- zem 14y agothe 11" macbook air looks like it strikes a nice balance.
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoNot really, though. I love my Air (a LOT), but the ergonomics are so different from my iPad that I can't even compare the two.
- rbanffy 14y agoThat's why I got myself an inexpensive laptop (Vostro 131, comes with Linux) and a Nook Color (promptly rooted). Good enough. And I barely went over US$ 600...
- marquis 14y agoDoctors, teachers, parents, people working outside - there are many reasons that a laptop is cumbersome for various vocations.
- ams6110 14y agoI have never seen ANY tablet that works well outside on a sunny day. Need an e-ink tablet for that market, though I'm not aware of any besides the Kindle which isn't really a general purpose device.
- krschultz 14y agoWindows 8 tablets can't sell for $800 or $900. I don't care what the tablets cost the manufacturers to make and license, they simply won't sell any for that price. It may well be more featured packed and powerful than an iPad - but it will be the premium product. At that price it will be pretty damn close to the price of a Macbook Air or Ultrabook which aren't any more arduous to carry. The only advantage of a tablet of those notebooks is the form factor. So how many people are out there looking for the form factor of a tablet but find the iPad's specs constraining?
- MatthewPhillips 14y agoI'm no mathematician, but I fail to see how +$85 gets you up to "$800 or $900" or how they're figuring that. For the 64gb models perhaps. I'd gladly pay +$85 for a tablet where I have file system access so I don't have to use another computer to get a file on the darned thing.
- SlipperySlope 14y agoMicrosoft is afraid to cross the chasm. It must become a hardware manufacturer to compete with iPad. The iPad has disrupted the steady decades-long growth of PC sales. Microsoft has the choice of competing with Android on the tablet low end, or of competing with Apple on the tablet high end. But because Microsoft is a software manufacturer, competing with Android on the low end means competing with something that is free - aside from existing mobile patent royalties. And competing with Apple is difficult because Apple keeps all the device sales profits, whereas Microsoft must split profits with tablet hardware manufacturers - who have the choice of using Android or some other Linux-based tablet OS. By the summer of 2013, we will begin to see how this is sorting out. Nokia, who has bet their company on Microsoft, may be then only a year away from bankruptcy. Enterprises may be reluctant to upgrade desktops to the Metro UI in Windows 8. What will be Microsoft's tablet market share a year from now? More than 10%?
- azakai 14y ago> Microsoft is afraid to cross the chasm. It must become a hardware manufacturer to compete with iPad. Well, Microsoft as a company already crossed that chasm with the XBOX (and Zune, if that matters). But yes, for the Windows section of Microsoft, that is a huge step to make.
- ams6110 14y agoOdd how the history played out. Mac OS X began as NeXT's OS (NEXTSTEP). When NeXT failed to get market traction with their high-end proprietary hardware/OS platform, they abandoned hardware and became a software/OS company. Microsoft already owned that space however. When NEXTSTEP the OS failed, they sold to Apple, became Mac OS X and later iOS, and went back to being a high-end proprietary hardware/OS platform. Microsoft however, long successful as a software company, is now facing the prospect of having to compete as a complete hardware/software platform, something they've never done, and something that Mac OS X (as NEXTSTEP) failed at previously. I guess it just shows that neither strategy is necessarily the "right" one. It's all about providing what the market wants, when it wants it.
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- Kilimanjaro 14y agoWith Mountain Lion at $19 the trend in software prices continues to go down year after year, propelled by the open source movement. In ten years I'd prefer to be in Apple's shoes. Software can be copied, pirated, or built up from scratch with an editor. Hardware can not.
- dman 14y agoYou mean we wont be printing hardware in 10 years?
- SlipperySlope 14y agoYes, at home we will not be printing circuit board and chip hardware in 10 years! Current maker-style single unit manufacturing is very limited as to the allowed input materials - and current trends do not indicate a solution in just seven years. A typical smart phone or laptop contains an astounding number of nano-sized parts made from otherwise hard-to-manufacture chemical compounds. After the singularity, I suppose that robotic logistics will make possible local on-demand customized manufacturing from a very efficient supply chain. Think UPS or FedEx but orders of magnitude more automated and efficient - as input to your locally-shared "maker" - which would be a completely automated robotic CNC, machine shop, electronics fab, paint shop, testing rig, etc. Where manufacturing plants are located, and the degree of customization offered, appear to be functions of the cost of labor and the cost of transporting various inputs and outputs. Post singularity economics may very well favor localized manufacturing when the customized output product is needed tomorrow.
- jyap 14y agoNo. Hardware can be commoditized as with the PC market. Apple has an incentive to sell Mountain Lion at $19 which is to increase the adoption of new OS versions. They also make money predominantly on hardware so a lower software cost isn't such a financial hit. Lowering the price of their newer OS also depresses the value of operating system software in the eyes of consumers. This is important with the upcoming release of Windows 8. Innovation and market differentiation is essentially what you are looking for. And ultimately you need a good product and resulting sales.
- ScottWhigham 14y agoI'm surprised at everyone quoting the same line and no one crying, "Foul!": "the new iPad starts at $500. Premium Windows 8 tablets will likely run between $800 and $900." Well, what's the "Premium iPad" go for? What do Windows 8 tablets start at? It's like saying "The entry level Mercedes goes for $50,000. The premium Porsche will likely run between $100,000 and $140,000." In that example, both can cost the same - it's all in the options/model chosen. I don't know what the actual prices of the Windows 8 tablets will be but I'm assuming Microsoft hasn't made their entry-level product 40% more expensive than the iPad.
- makecheck 14y agoAfter years I still fail to understand how Microsoft thinks an OS is worth the prices it charges. I see two possibilities: 1. The OS isn't worth this, in which case it's either extortion (if their partners feel they have no choice) or cluelessness (if their partners end up walking away). 2. The OS is worth this, in which case they've over-engineered: they made their particular OS do way more than it's supposed to and are trying to recoup the cost of developing so damned much. Fundamentally, an OS needs to boot a device and provide resource management. In order to be compelling to developers it needs to include good libraries that make common tasks easy and tricky tasks efficient. ARM tablets don't even need Windows' backward-compatibility, so there should be a heck of a lot they can just drop out of it! It is hard to imagine this OS being a beast; apparently it is. Technical points aside however, Microsoft is also the underdog, and a rich one. If anybody should be eating the true costs of an OS and charging partners $6 a head to boost adoption (whether or not it's worth $85), it's Microsoft.
- nl 14y agoAfter years I still fail to understand how Microsoft thinks an OS is worth the prices it charges. Show me an operating system (that comes with support) that is cheaper. Ubuntu is $104.99/year for the cheapest support offering from Canonical. OS-X is more. Android is free, but you have to pay to license the Google Apps (exactly how much no one is saying).
- damian2000 14y agoVast majority of Ubuntu and Linux users don't pay for support - that's the difference - they have a choice. With Windows there is no choice, just a huge fee going to Microsoft, who are trying desperately to hang onto the lead in the desktop OS market.
- thornkin 14y agoYou actually do have a choice. If you buy an OEM copy from, say, Newegg, there is no support included. That's part of the reason it is so much cheaper than the retail version.
- cooldeal 14y agoOEMs are going to get kickbacks from Microsoft. http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-rumored-to-give-pc-makers-profit-deals-for-windows-8-apps http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-rumored-to-give-pc-make... That should drive the prices down a bit. > While this opens a path for more impressive devices, it seems to us that Microsoft and Intel both took the Ultrabook route and charge “an arm and a leg” for the RT-powered tablet. What? Intel is charging for an Windows RT ARM tablet?
- SlipperySlope 14y agoIntel and Microsoft are very jealous of the high profit margins obtained by Apple on gross sales. The Ultrabook is an Intel marketing scheme to make a commodity category out of the MacBook Air. Otherwise small form factor commodity laptops use less expensive Intel CPUs & low-end versions of MS Windows OS bundles.
- fingerprinter 14y agoHaven't seen anyone ask this, but is this also going to be the OEM price for say Dell, Lenovo etc for desktops and laptops? In a business with as slim margins as those folks have, this could scream for an alternative. Ubuntu anyone?
- wmf 14y agoWindows 8 for PC may cost more like $100, but the OEMs can offset that with crapware.
- SlipperySlope 14y agoThe Windows 8 OS bundle price for PCs - that is laptops and desktops - does not need to change much from existing prices for Windows 7 OS bundles. Microsoft already has awesome profit margins on Windows due to their monopolistic-style lock on that market. If someone wants to sell a laptop for example, for most of the world they must also include MS Windows. When netbooks first came out, the Asus EeePC was Linux, but customer returns forced subsequent models to be a stripped down Windows XP - and a hard disk needed to be on netbooks from that point forwards.
- duaneb 14y ago> Ubuntu anyone? Good one.
- ajaimk 14y agoI wish the cheap was in brackets, as this spells doom for profit margins completely for OEMs. They don't have the scale of Apple.