Microsoft slashes $150 from price of Surface RT tablet

Microsoft is slashing the price of its Surface RT tablet by $150 as it fights to increase its tiny share of the booming tablet market.

The cut brings the price of the Surface RT with 32 gigabytes of memory to $349 without a cover, which also acts as a keyboard. Including a cover with a touch-sensitive keyboard, the device comes to $449. The Surface has a 10.1-inch diagonal screen measured diagonally.

According to market research firm IDC, Microsoft shipped about a million tablets in the first quarter of 2013. That includes about 260,000 of the slimmed-down RT version and 750,000 of the Pro version of Surface, which is compatible with older Windows programs.

That gave Microsoft a 2 percent share of the 49.9 million tablets shipped worldwide. Apple remained the leader with 39.1 percent, followed by Samsung Electronics, AsusTek Computer, Amazon.com and Acer. Microsoft was No. 6. Second-quarter figures are not yet out.

The cut, implemented Sunday, comes just days after Microsoft reorganized its corporate structure to become more of a “devices and services” company. AP