Microsoft Reportedly Slashes Surface RT Orders in Half

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Microsoft had this grand vision of jumping into the tablet market with a pair of tablets built around Windows 8 -- one with ARM inside and the other a x86 slate running Intel hardware -- but the company may have overestimated the competitive landscape. Reportedly, the Redmond software giant has cut its Surface RT orders with overseas suppliers in half after failing to generate the kind of sales figures it was anticipating.
Citing sources within Microsoft's "upstream supply chain," DigiTimes claims the Surface tablet maker reduced RT orders from 4 million devices to just 2 million units. Those same sources tell DigiTimes that Microsoft's new OS might not perform as well in the market as the company hoped it would.
It's always a good idea to take these kinds of reports with a grain of salt, though this isn't an isolated case. Asus Chief Financial Officer David Chang recently told The Wall Street Journal that "demand for Windows 8 is not that good right now."
If demand for Surface RT doesn't pick up, it's possible Microsoft will drop the price of Surface Pro to drum up demand. Surface Pro is scheduled to ship in January starting at $899 for the 64GB model and $999 for the 128GB model. It will feature a x86 foundation consisting of an Intel Core i5 processor, will support Windows 7 applications, and have half the battery life of Surface RT.
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