Microsoft Surface tablet at $499 is not good enough

Microsoft announced recently that the price for Surface tablets will start at $499. While this might be same as the price of a similar Apple iPad I don’t think it will help them.

Microsoft Surface tablet with White keyboard Cover

Most people will tend to buy tablets based on three parameters – brand, price and platform.

Apple, Samsung and Amazon have the brand locked down. Samsung and Amazon also have the price advantage with both low end ($199) and high end tablets along with having a widely used platform – Android, on their side.

That leaves Microsoft with a small group of enthusiasts and people who don’t care about app stores etc and just want a tablet to watch video and surf the web.

The Microsoft Surface tablet is 9.3mm thick,has one USB port and comes with 10.6″ ClearType display. The detachable cover is 3mm thick. Some reviews claim that the display is better than that on an iPad and the keyboard cover is a boon for content creators. 

I think this is going to be a tough battle for Microsoft even though they have a great device. Not to mention their whole Windows RT/8 thing confuses people. Having said all that, apparently the pre-orders for the Surface tablets have sold out!! Holy #$@% Batman, I could be wrong!