Microsoft has reduced the price of its Surface RT tablet to £279, only slightly more than an iPad Mini. Is the price drop going to make much of a difference to education customers?
Since its launch the Surface RT, Microsoft’s ARM based tablet alternative, has struggled to get any traction in either the education or consumer markets. The tablet has poor performance, doesn’t run standard Windows software, and doesn’t integrate with Active Directory. This has been reflected in the RT’s poor sales figures. It’s estimated that only 1 million units have been sold worldwide since it’s release in February this year.
So, does the new low price of the RT give pause for thought when purchasing tablets? Not really. It’s difficult to look at this move as anything more than a fire sale to shift units before an improved model is released.
Windows RT adds little more than fragmentation and confusion to an otherwise solid operating system install base. Microsoft would do well to scrap the RT version of Windows and concentrate the consumer’s mind on the x86 version of Windows 8.
