The price for Microsoft's Surface will be $199

Engadget reported that a Microsoft tablet in a minimal configuration will cost no more than a Kindle Fire.

According to J.T. Wang, the head of the board of Acer, such a step can ensure the successful launch of Windows 8, but it will hit the company’s partners hard. If the price is in the range of $499-599, then the negative effect will be much lower.

Considering that other vendors took the news much more calmly, it can be assumed that Acer feels extremely insecure in the tablet market. And the desire to somehow influence Microsoft’s policy is a public admission of the company’s own weakness.

Microsoft itself does not provide information about the price of the future tablet. Sources of the main aggregator of rumors – the DigiTimes portal – believe that the cost of a Surface tablet with an ARM-architecture processor will be at least $ 599, with an Intel Core processor on the x86 architecture – at least $ 799.

The release of the “budget” version of the tablet on ARM will take place on October 26.