Microsoft is trying to entice buyers of the Surface 2 and Surface RT to take a look at its newly-released low-cost tablet with a new trade-in program. Owners of those devices can get up to $150 off the purchase of a Surface 3 with a promotion announced today.
People who want to take advantage of the program can go to the Microsoft Store online, and fill out a form describing the condition of their old tablet, along with any accessories they plan to return with it like a Touch Cover or power adaptor. After that, they’ll be given an estimate of the discount code they’re expected to receive, and they will get shipped a box to package it up and ship it back to Microsoft.
The Surface RT was not Microsoft’s finest hour. The company had to take a $900 million write-down for “inventory adjustments” of the tablet, which did not sell well. Since then, the company has revealed that it won’t be releasing a version of Windows 10 that’s compatible with the device, meaning that customers who bought one will be left without the latest version of Windows just two years after the Surface RT was released.
Receiving a $150 discount could make the new Surface 3 more interesting to people who might otherwise have avoided upgrading at a time when Microsoft really wants users to jump on the Windows 10 bandwagon. The company expects that there will be 1 billion devices running Windows 10 by the start of its 2018 fiscal year, and making sure that users of its tablets have compatible hardware will be an important part of that.
