Surface price drops to US$799

NEW YORK CITY, USA: Microsoft on Monday, 5 August knocked US$100 off the price of high end versions of its Surface tablet, which is competing against Apple's iPad and devices that use Google's Android system.

The software company's online store is now offering US consumers the Surface Pro for US$799 or US$899, depending on memory capacity.

There was no immediate comment from Microsoft on the price change. Last month it slashed the price of its most basic Surface model by 30%, cutting it from US$499 to US$349.

The measure resulted in a US$900m charge against Microsoft's fourth quarter earnings, which closed at the end of June.

The charge exceeds sales of the tablet since it was launched at the end of October last year and has sold Surface tablets worth an estimated US$853m.

Surface was introduced as a platform for Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system, which was launched at the same time in a bid to make up for ground lost to Apple and Google in the mobile domain.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge