What!? Intel and Windows tablets to cost $899 USD
by Steven Mostyn - Jan 18 2012, 12:26
...and the shirt off ya back! Image: Rob Lee/Flickr.
Although we’re suitably excited by the prospect of getting to grips with tablet computers powered by a combination of Windows and Intel, gathering rumors suggest consumer enthusiasm may be dented by inflated retail prices.
That’s according to a report from DigiTimes—leading purveyor of unsubstantiated whispers—which claims ‘Wintel’ tablet devices are expected to sell from a testing $599 USD to an eye-widening $899 USD.
Citing sources connected to unnamed notebook vendors, the report offers that such high projections are due to Microsoft and Intel staunchly refusing to drop their respective software and hardware prices—a refusal that could see host devices crashing beside cheaper ARM-based Android alternatives.
Chatter suggests that if Microsoft and Intel relent and lower their Windows 8 and Clover Trail processor prices in order to better compete in the increasingly busy tablet sector, significant pricing and profit damage will spill into the general PC market.
“As for notebook vendors, if Intel does not reduce its Clover Trail-W platform prices, the vendors are likely to choose ARM solutions from Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments for their upcoming Windows 8 tablet PCs to reduce costs,” notes DigiTimes writer Monica Chen.
By way of comparison, the hugely popular iPad2 presently sells for $499 USD and is widely considered to be the upper-tier tablet of choice. Meanwhile, the wonderfully cheap but impressively capable Kindle Fire from Amazon is available for just $199 USD.
Why are we suddenly hearing a distant death knell?
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