Microsoft Corp. is slashing the price of its Surface RT tablet by $150 as
it fights to increase its tiny share of the booming tablet market.
The cut brings the price of the Surface RT with 32 gigabytes of memory to
$349 without a cover, which also acts as a keyboard. Including a cover with a
touch-sensitive keyboard, the device comes to $449. The Surface has a 10.1-inch
(25.6-centimeter) screen measured diagonally.
According to market research firm IDC, Microsoft shipped about 900,000
tablets in the first quarter of 2013. That includes both the slimmed-down RT
version and the Pro version of Surface, which is compatible with older Windows
programs.
That gave Microsoft a slim 1.8 percent share of the 49.2 million tablets
shipped worldwide. Apple remained the leader with 39.6 percent and was followed
by Samsung Electronics Co., AsusTek Computer Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Microsoft
was No. 5. For the first time in IDC's quarterly report, Microsoft crept into
the top five manufacturers, displacing Barnes & Noble Inc., which makes the
Nook. Second-quarter figures are not yet out.
The cut, implemented Sunday, comes just days after Microsoft reorganized
its corporate structure to become more of a "devices and services" company.
Microsoft has manufactured devices before, such as its Xbox gaming console,
but when it began selling Surface tablets in October, the company became a
competitor to its many manufacturing partners, who rely on its Windows operating
system to power their machines.
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