Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 has proven a success in the tablet market, but this holiday season, it will have some stiff competition with other tablets. Retailers, including online stores, will no doubt be reducing the price of the popular Windows tablet with keyboard to increase sales for the holiday season.
This year, the revenues of the Surface have more than doubled from the prior year to $908 million. Also, a Microsoft head of product has stated that "retailers ordered what we thought was a healthy amount of Surface Pro 3s for these new markets. It turns out that we didn't ship enough". Considering the lack of supply for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, there will be an increase in demand as a gift.
Microsoft Store has finally unveiled their own Black Friday deals. It is offering a Surface Pro 3 (i7 versions) for $150 off and Surface Pro 3 (i5 version) for $100 off. The Surface Pro 3 with 128GB of storage and an Intel i5 Processor will cost $899 starting November 27, the 256 GB model with an Intel Core i5 Processor will cost $1,199.
Microsoft are also offering a deal with the Surface Holiday Bundle which will include a one-year subscription to Office 365 as well as a mouse or sleeve for $99.99 with the purchase of a Surface Pro 3 at $898.99. In addition to those deals, the company is also offering large discounts on computer, phone and tablet accessories. This includes some of the Surface sleeves, which are on sale for $9.99 (normally $39.99) and $29.99 (regularly $59.99).
Some retailers are offering $150 in savings on the tablet that Microsoft claims could replace your laptop. Similar to the discounts of the Microsoft Surface Pro are the savings reported for Apple products like the iPad Air 2. Gotta Be Mobile reports that the iPad Air 2 is expected to receive a $30 discount from its regular $499 starting price, and the iPad Air will take an even bigger price cut at $50.
It has been reported that Microsoft has lost $1.7 billion since Surface first launched in 2012, which means that Microsoft is investing a lot of finances to try and grab a significant share of the tablet market. Both tablets from Microsoft and Apple have quite a large price-point, so the winner this holiday could be low-priced tablets like those with the Android operating system.
