Earlier this month, Microsoft slashed the price of the Surface Pro by $100 through the month of August, but, according to ZDNet, the company is making the price cut permanent in order to stir up sales of the Windows 8 tablet. This means that the entry-level Surface Pro tablet will now be priced at $800, with other Surface products also seeing permanent price slashes, including $40 off of Touch Covers, and $50 off of Surface RT bundles – now starting at $400.
The once-temporary price cut was only supposed to last for a month, but seeing as how the response was overly positive for the cheaper tablets, Microsoft decided to make the $100 price bump permanent. Canada, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and various regions across Europe will also get the permanent price cut, making it the first time these areas have received such a discount on the Surface Pro.
Microsoft originally cut the prices of its Surface RT tablets back in June and has since continued the trend with all of its Surface products. The company hopes to boost sales in a big way with this permanent discount, but it certainly won’t put the company back in the black with the Surface lineup, seeing as how the company took a $900 million write-off due to excess inventory of the tablets. It seems the one-month-only discount that Microsoft originally had in mind just wasn’t going to cut it if it’s planning to clear out inventory.
The permanent price cut could also point to an impending refresh of the Surface line. We’ve been hearing a handful of rumors about the second-generation Surface, and the permanent discount could be paving the way for newer Surface tablets to enter the market.
