Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
...And I also Think that if one is to continually make comparisons to a MacBook Air then the i5 model with 256 GB SSD and 8GB RAM and the price of the keyboard is the fair comparison...
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I'm taking the prices in Euro again, but in Dollars it's the same ratio.
MacBook Air 13" i5 256GB/4GB = € 1199
Surface Pro 3 i5 256GB/8GB = € 1299 + € 129 for the cover.
Given the 4GB difference
plus the touchscreen, to me those prices seem perfectly in line, even slightly in favor of Surface Pro 3.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
...I Think the Surface Type Cover, especially the new one for SP3, is a clever engineering solution since it offers a dual solution. But, considering the material used and where it is produced I'd say that $99 is a fair price with a healthy margin for Microsoft. I Think a lot of people see Microsoft's pricing strategy as greedy...
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Admittedly, I didn't bother to check for the manufacturing costs of the cover. I don't care anyway. One of my former employers did have Gross Margins on their hardware in the excess of 60%. Still, they had been close to bankruptcy. I find teardowns such as "iPad components are worth the amount of X" utter nonsense. That's basically neglecting the difference between Gross Margin and EBIT, not considering R&D, SAG and the likes. No external source will have the slightest idea about the "real" costs and even internally only a few dozen people will have all the facts.
Maybe Microsoft could sell the cover for 30% less and still be profitable?
Maybe even with that price they barely make break even?
Some say, the cover should be included for free. Given the comparison above (MBA for 1199 vs. Surface Pro 3 for 1299) I don't think that's a fair or realistic demand.
Some say, the cover should be 30% cheaper.
What about the € 80 for the iPad Smart Case for example? What about the € 80 for my Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard?
I've bought a fantastic protective foil for my Dell Venue 8 Pro for a meager € 5 and a totally crappy one for € 20. Did the € 20 one have 80% Gross Margins? Or do they simply sell in smaller quantities?
I don't think, Microsoft is any "worse" or "better" or more or less "greedy" than the other ones. But at least they offer a solution that's working fine for me. Would it not be working, even half the price would be too much. Since it's working fine, I really don't bother about +/- 25% or something like that, even more though as the price seems absolutely in line with the comparisons I've made...
BTW: I've bought the Google Chromebook Pixel one year ago for € 1300. The specs had been great, but it definitely is less capable than MacBook Air or Surface Pro 3, given the limitations of the OS. But this wasn't my base of comparison, it still was worth the price to me because it's uniqueness. When this uniqueness didn't last and I didn't find workable usage pattern, I've sold it...