Windows 8 tablets will be significantly more expensive than Android tablets

Tablets based on Windows 8 RT will be more expensive than Android tablets by at least $ 150, Vedomosti reports, citing representatives of Lenovo. 

As Gleb Mishin, vice president of the company, told the publication, Microsoft intends to charge each future user of the tablet version of Windows 8 RT, specially designed for ARM-architecture devices, an additional $150 for the installed Microsoft Office package. 

Given that Google does not charge either the user or the vendor money for using the platform, it is quite possible that by the end of the year we will witness how two devices with diametrically different price tags will be on the same counter. An Android gadget will cost a hypothetical 10 thousand, and a tablet on Windows 8 – 15 thousand. 

However, there is an opinion that this will only apply to third-party tablets. Microsoft’s own devices, in turn, will be in the same price range with budget solutions for Android and iOS. Eduard Voronetsky, president of K-Systems, insists on this, arguing that Microsoft does not need to pay itself for a license.   

For the new operating system, ABI Research analysts predict a market share of 1.5% by the end of 2012. Gartner specialists raise this bar to 4.1% of the market, which is equivalent to 4.9 million devices.