From the skunkworks at Microsoft comes a fresh rumour of the pricing for the Microsoft Surface.

According to Engadget, the pricing and roll out plan was laid out at the Redmond-based giant’s recent TechReady15 conference.

The planned 26 October launch date isn’t exactly surprising — we’ve known about it for a fair while now.

What is interesting is that the eagerly anticipated tablet is set to ship for US$199. That’s Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire money. Which leaves you wondering, how the hell does Microsoft plan to make money off this thing?

That said, it’s a lot more realistic than the US$1 000 price tab spotted on a Swedish website a couple of weeks back.

A low entry price also means that it’ll be accessible as soon as hits the market, giving it a good chance at making a dent in a market that the company’s traditionally battled in.

Hell for US$200, I’ll start looking at how easily I can free up the money, and I’m a tight-fisted tech journo.