By Aldo Panessidi
Microsoft’s ARM-friendly Windows RT operating system launches this fall, but Microsoft is going to make it very difficult for tablet makers to use it and still compete with Apple’s iPad 3 pricing. Microsoft will reportedly charge tablet makers $85 to license each device that uses its Windows RT.
VR Zone reported that Microsoft’s pricing was disclosed to them by a number of vendors during the Computex Taipei trade show. All claimed the price would be anywhere between $80 and $95. With that amount added to the cost of tablet manufacturing, ARM-powered Windows RT tablets could cost between $549 and $799. Premium products could be priced between $799 and $899.
Microsoft’s hardware and software strategy looks like it’s patterned after Apple’s. Both companies want control. Windows RT will come exclusively pre-installed in Windows on ARM devices (or WOA for short).
It will be strictly limited to WOA PCs built exclusively for Microsoft. Windows apps will only be made available only through its Windows Store.
