Microsoft has revealed the official release date of its Surface tablet in a report submitted this week to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming the day to be October 26th. This coincides with information reported on earlier this month, about the launch of the new operating system Windows 8 on October 26th as well.
Only one form of Surface will be available on launch day, which is said to be the more price friendly option with an ARM-based version running Windows RT. The next edition will come 90 days later, as a more expensive Intel-based version complete with Windows 8 Pro.
Microsoft has stated that “suggested retail pricing will be announced closer to availability and is expected to be competitive with a comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC.”
With that in mind, CNET believes that the expensive version of the tablets could be well up to the $1000 mark, while the cheaper options will most likely stay around $500-$600. According to an online listing, the cheapest price for Microsoft Surface so far is around 650 euros for a basic 32GB model.
Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer spoke out earlier stating that the company plans to bring fierce competition to Apple in all areas of technological innovation, with surface being only the beginning.
