Microsoft Sets New Price for Surface RT at $349

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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The flagship of Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) consumer PC products, the Surface, just got less expensive. The price of the base model dropped to $349, which is certain to be a reaction to lack of demand. The entire global PC market has slowed, although tablet computer sales have lifted. The RT is an odd hybrid — a tablet with a portable keyboard. It is, in other words, a product that sits between hardware success and failure.

The RT has to be a leader into Microsoft’s foray to hardware, which is part of CEO Steve Ballmer’s new vision for the company. He set a new structure for the entire management system and made hardware a priority.

Microsoft’s new promotion for the RT states that its 32 GB (tablet only) cost $499 previously.

The huge software company describes the product this way:

Work anywhere, anytime with Windows RT and Office Home & Student 2013 RT Preview2. Keep tabs on news, friends, and entertainment with pre-loaded Microsoft apps. Visit the Windows Store to discover more apps and games.

That sounds like the most popular tablets without Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android OS or Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iOS, Windows RT has never caught on — a huge drawback for the Surface.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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