Microsoft CEO 'reveals' Surface pricing

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has given a price range for the upcoming Surface tablets, though an official announcement is still pending.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has given a price range for the upcoming Surface tablets, though an official announcement is still pending. In an interview with The Seattle Times, Ballmer said that the Microsoft Surface RT and Surface Pro would cost between $300 and $800 at the time of launch.

This price range, though normal for tablets, has killed the hopes of those who expected Microsoft to roll out the tablets at the price points of Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire.

Ballmer told The Seattle Times, "If you look at the bulk of the PC market, it would run between, say, probably $300 to about $700 or $800," he told the newspaper. "That's the sweet spot."

With this pricing strategy, Microsoft is clear pitting the Surface RT against the Apple iPad at approximately $450-500, while the higher priced Surface Pro will take on ultrabooks.

If Microsoft takes on ultrabooks with its Surface tablet, it will further thin the line between laptops and tablets. The emergence of tablets as personal computing devices has ushered in the fall of personal computers and laptops. This has affected the fortunes of hardware manufacturers, some of which are Microsoft's partners.

Nevertheless, Microsoft remains undeterred as the CEO said that in the future it will become more of a device-and-services company, though its key area will still be software.