Dell drops $299 Windows RT tablet, cheapest offer now $479

Shoppers who tried to buy a Windows RT tablet at Dell's website Friday morning would have seen one listed for $299. By the end of the day the cheapest tablet came bundled with a keyboard for $479.

Dell made several changes to the RT offers on its website. By Friday evening it had eliminated all the options for a standalone tablet and now only sells the product, called the XPS 10, bundled with a keyboard.

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In some ways it bucks a recent trend. Dell has been lowering prices for its Windows RT tablet since May, after the company admitted it was selling poorly. When it was introduced last October, the XPS 10 was priced at $499, and it had dropped to $299 in May.

Dell is apparently trying to up-sell customers to breathe a bit of life into its XPS 10 business after poor sales, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates

Selling the tablet bundled with a keyboard suggests Dell views it as a device for creating content rather than just consuming it, perhaps because Windows RT is designed to provide some "laptop-like" capabilities, Kay said.

"It seems like the direction they are going in. It's a better idea if it's a bundle," he said.

Earlier Friday, a tablet with 32GB of storage priced at $299 was listed as "out of stock." IDG News Service inquired about the product to see if it was still on sale, and shortly afterward, the listing disappeared from the site. Later in the day, a standalone XPS 10 with 64GB of storage also disappeared.

Dell never replied to requests for comment about the changes.

The only models listed on the site by late Friday came bundled with keyboards. And, somewhat confusingly, the bundles with the 32GB and 64GB tablets were listed for the same price -- $479. That's apparently because the 64GB device comes with a steeper discount offer.

There's also an LTE version of the 64GB XPS 10 listed on the site, priced at $579 with a keyboard.

Apart from the storage and connectivity, the other tablet features are the same. They all have a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and a 10.1-inch screen that displays images at 1366 x 768 resolution. Windows RT is Microsoft's version of Windows 8 for ARM processors like the Snapdragon.

Keyboards are expensive as an accessory and can be more profitable for Dell than the tablet itself, and Dell could use all the financial help it can get right now, Kay said. On Thursday, it reported quarterly profits that were down 72 percent.

Bundling the tablets and keyboards together could also be Dell's way of clearing out its XPS 10 tablets and accessories, he said, though it was unclear if that was Dell's goal.

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Univ. of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Maryland Bankers Association to Offer Program for Community Bank Board Members

Univ. of Maryland’s Smith School of Business and Maryland Bankers Association to Offer Program for Community Bank Board Members

College Park, Md. – December 7, 2010 – The Center for Financial Policy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and the Maryland Bankers Association are partnering to deliver a Bank Director Training Program. Targeted to business leaders who serve on the boards of community banks in Maryland, the series of short courses will lead participants through new regulations in the wake of the financial crisis and leverage Smith’s world-class faculty and research from the Center for Financial Policy.

Courses will give board members the financial skills and understanding to work more effectively with their banks and better navigate complex decisions, even though many are not professionals in the industry. The program will be offered in six, four-hour modules, beginning in January 2011. The Smith School’s finance faculty, in conjunction with the Office of Executive Programs, will teach the courses at the school’s College Park, Md. campus, with one module to be held in June in conjunction with the Maryland Bankers Association annual meeting.

“As we’re emerging from the financial crisis, there is no better time for a formal program for community bank board members,” said Clifford Rossi, executive-in-residence at the Center for Financial Policy and academic director of the Board Director Training Program. “Having board directors who understand the new state and federal regulatory reforms is critical to the ongoing stability of the banking sector in Maryland.”

Rossi, a 25-year banking industry veteran, will teach the first course on credit risk management in January 2011. Rossi will bring his experience as chief risk officer, most recently with Citigroup, to give board members an overview of credit risks faced by banks, what to look for and how banks can better control these exposures. Subsequent courses will cover asset liability, deposit insurance, capital management, corporate governance and strategic planning.

“We are excited to be partnering with the Smith School on this program,” said Kathleen Murphy, president and CEO of the Maryland Bankers Association. “With more than 700 business leaders currently serving on the boards of Maryland’s community banks, this program will provide an ongoing resource with some of the premier educational financial faculty in the country. This will be a wonderful added benefit for our members.”

Launched in 2009, the Center for Financial Policy offers an unbiased source of expertise on complex policy issues related to financial institutions, financial markets and public companies through cutting-edge research, outreach and executive education. Center leaders interact with policymakers to provide impartial help in steering and influencing policy, and provide thought leadership to industry executives in the public and private sectors. The center also offers the Directors’ Institute, an intensive, three-day program for corporate board members held in April in Washington.

The Smith School is widely recognized as a world-leading source of business management education and research, consistently ranking among the world’s best for faculty research. It was recently ranked No. 15 in the United States for its executive MBA program and No. 1 in corporate strategy by the Financial Times.

About the Maryland Bankers Association
Founded in 1896, MBA’s member banks have more than 25,000 employees and hold
97 percent of the FDIC insured deposits in Maryland in more than 1,800 branch offices. MBA serves member banks and thrifts as a legislative and regulatory advocate at all levels of government, as the public relations voice for the industry, as a provider of professional education to members and a promoter of consumer financial education to adults and students.   

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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