Microsoft discounts Surface Pro

Microsoft has cut the price of the Surface Pro by US$100, fuelling speculation that its flagship Windows 8 tablet device isn't selling well.

Last month, Microsoft reported it had taken a US$900 million hit in inventory charges for the low-end ARM processor based Surface RT tablet.

Microsoft slashed the price of Surface RT tablets by a third in the hope of boosting sales, which have so far been poor. According to a Securities Exchange Commission filing, Microsoft earned US$853 million from sales of both the Surface RT and Pro tablets. The inventory write-down and advertising expenditure for the devices and the new Windows 8 operating system are reported to amount to around US$1.8 billion.

Surface Pro has received mixed reviews, with the modest four-hour battery life being singled out as its Achilles heel.

The company also lost a key original equipment manufacturer for the Windows RT platform, as ASUS announced that it would stick to Intel instead.

Advertised Australian pricing remains at A$999 for the 64GB version and A$1,099 for the 128GB model.