Microsoft shaves $100 off Surface Pro through August 29

MS surface pro

In another sign that Microsoft’s Surface tablets are failing to hit the ground running, the Windows giant has slashed the Surface Pro lineup by $100 through August 29. The Microsoft-branded tablet family was unveiled last October so it’s only logical the company now wants to get rid of unsold inventory as it gears up to announce a second-generation Surface later this year. Both the 64GB and 128GB flavors of the Surface Pro are now a $799 and $899 value, respectively…

According to The Verge, the United States, Canada, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are now showing price cuts on both Surface Pro models. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that customers in these countries can buy a $100 cheaper Surface Pro between August 4 and August 29.

Of course, Microsoft put its expected spin on the development:

We’ve been seeing great worldwide success with Surface RT pricing and keyboard-cover promotions over the past several months and are proud to offer Surface Pro at more affordable prices starting today.

The cheaper Surface RT is based on ARM architecture while the Surface RT runs Intel chips, allowing it to run legacy Windows programs and be marketed as a cross-over between a tablet and a notebook.

Surface Pro $100 cheaper
The official Surface website is advertising the price cut.

The news arrives following Microsoft’s unexpected deep 30 percent discount on Surface RT tablets after Geekwire estimated the Windows maker sold a mere 1.7 million Surface RT units to date, prompting a massive $900 million write-off over unsold inventory.

According to its annual Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Surface family of tablets had raked in only $853 million in revenue for the company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE7AQY5Xk9w

Even the outspoken Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer couldn’t spin the news in a positive direction and has reportedly told troops that “we built a few more devices than we could sell”. Despite this unusual admission of failure, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that iPad-bashing in Surface commercials will continue unabated.