Asus to base Windows 8 device pricing on new iPad

Asus will look to the upcoming iPad for pricing guidance and issues a warning to Microsoft about Surface tablet pricing.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor

Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.

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Brooke Crothers

Aug. 29, 2012 11:35 p.m. PT

Asus Windows 8 laptop-tablet hybrid. CNET Asia

Asus will peg pricing of some upcoming Windows 8 devices to Apple's new iPad, according to a report citing comments from President Jerry Shen.

The company will "use the price of Apple's new iPad as a reference" when pricing Windows 8 and Windows RT devices, Shen said during the company's second-quarter earnings conference call, according to a report in Digitimes.

The report did not specify what "reference" means exactly, i.e., whether, for example, an Asus Windows RT tablet would be priced to compete directly with the upcoming iPad or whether it would be used as a loose pricing guideline.

Shen also addressed Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 Surface tablet products, saying "if Microsoft launches its Surface at US$199...it will cause difficulty for [the survival of] Asustek's Windows-based tablet," according to the report.

He also mentioned that Google's Nexus 7 tablet, which Asus manufactures, will provide a big boost for the company's tablet shipments.

Asus reported consolidated revenue of NT$94.197 billion (US$3.15 billion) for the second quarter, up four percent from the first quarter. Operating profit and pre-tax profit were both the highest in two years.