Microsoft cuts Surface RT price 30 per cent

Microsoft has cut the price of the Surface RT tablet by 30 per cent, in a move that will see the device with 32 gigabytes retail at $349, in a bid to shore up its sales. The tablet now costs around $15 more than the iPad Mini from Apple.

According to tech magazine, cio.co.uk a slide from Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference had confirmed an "Update to Surface RT" and an "Update to Surface Pro" formed part of the future plans fo the company. According to CIO, it was thought that the new Surface models would arrive sometime in the next year.

The new Surface Pro may come with Intel's latest Haswell processor while the Surface RT running Windows 8.1 would likely run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor according to CIO.

According to commentators, Microsoft had taken several initiatives to push Surface RT tablets, with a free touch cover promotion in May and there was talk in June of prices for schools and colleges to be heavily slashed. The software giant also gifted 10,000 RTs to teachers in the US.

A Microsoft spokesman told the The Wall Street Journal that the company had been seeing great success with pricing and cover promotions over the past several months on Surface RT in the US and other markets.

 He added that people who bought Surface loved it, and the company was excited about all those additional people sharing their excitement for Surface with other people.

According to UK technology news and  reviews website, Hexus.net, companies often discounted and sold off older generation devices when a new version was ready for launch, but at last week's Worldwide Partner Conference, a great opportunity to announce a new Surface, Microsoft came out with no specific announcement about Surface device launches in the near future.

It added a slide presented at the conference only mentioned an update to Surface RT (expected to pack a Qualcomm processor), new Surface accessories , new accessory colours and new Windows 8.1 devices  though no timescales were offered.