Windows on ARM tablets have an estimated cost of around $300 to $350 for 10 inch models and $150 to $200 for 7 inchers, but now they’re struggling to meet the vendors’ price targets. The problem is that they need to be competitive with the likes of iPad 2 units for example or the Amazon Kindle Fire.
There’s an extra fee of $90 – $100 for Windows 8, that’s the main problem for Taiwan-based supply chain makers. This Windows price pulls up the price of the devices, making it hard to find an ideal price point for the upcoming tablets. The average price of all tablets has been dropping because of the Amazon Kindle Fire. Amazon has the huge advantage of being able to sell tablets at a loss, because they get their money back through their services and advertising.
PC brand vendors are used to price wars, but even they will have problems here, since they don’t get extra revenue after the product launch, like Amazon. Also, since the ARM version of windows 8 doesn’t offer backwards support for previous Windows software, that will be felt like a challenge by potential customers. The reason? They’ll be forced to spend money on Windows 8 apps..
