In a recent interview with Bloomberg, David Schmoock who's head of North American operations for Lenovo, gave some fairly specific pricing points for both Windows 8 tablets and the more consumer-focused RT variant running ARM processors. It's the most specific data on pricing that has been presented so far on the new but elusive Microsoft category.
There has been some wild speculation as to how much these Windows RT tablets would cost with Surface proving to be the focus of some of the more controversial pricing 'guestimates', going from thousands of dollars to just $199.
Lenovo's Schmoock is quoted by Bloomberg as saying “RT will play in the consumer and retail at very aggressive price points”. Even more noteworthy is that he goes on to price standard Windows 8 tablets saying they will cost between $600 or $700--a much lower price point than many of us have anticipated.
If accurate, this tells us two things: standard x86-based machines will be quite affordable and second, that consumer-focused RT tablets could fall between $300-$400. That last number comes from this statement from Bloomberg: "Windows RT software will cost $200 to $300 less than competing products using Windows 8 software".
At $400 that’s priced to compete head to head with the cheapest iPad 3, which fetches for $499. Windows RT is going right up against Apples iPad and if indicators are correct, at the same price point (or even lower).
With Lenovo going on record with Bloomberg, do you think these pricing rumors have any validity? Let us know in comments.
Source: Bloomberg
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