If you thought Microsoft's effort to push Surface RT tablets into classrooms would stop with a 10,000-unit giveaway, you'd be mistaken. Ryan Lowdermilk, a technology evangelist for the company, revealed that it's offering 32GB Surface RT slates to K-12 and higher education institutions in 25 countries for $199, more than 50 percent off the $499 retail sticker price. Dropping $249 for each unit will snag organizations keyboard-infused Touch Covers, while bumping the cost to $289 will add Type Covers to the package. Education outfits can take advantage of the deal until August 31st (or while supplies last), but individual students won't be able to snag a Surface at such a deep discount on their own. The post announcing the program has gone offline since its unveiling, but we've reached out to Lowdermilk to confirm that the offer is still valid. In the meantime, you can hit the second source link to snatch an order form for school administrators.
Update: It appears the order form has been pulled, so we've replaced the second source link with a mirror of the document.
[Thanks, Suraj-Sun]
Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft
Source: Ryan Lowdermilk (Google Cache), Surface for Education Order Form (PDF)