Microsoft has recently kicked off a new campaign that offers iPad users a $200 Microsoft Store gift card to trade-in their Apple tablet. While the gift card is applicable to any item inside of Microsoft’s stores, the company is positioning the offer as push for sales of the Surface tablet. The deal ends on October 27, 2013.
This campaign is just one aspect of Microsoft’s attempts at trumping Apple’s iPad. Over the past several months, Microsoft has been running TV ads that position Windows 8 for tablets the Microsoft Surface against the iPad. These ads have highlighted the multitasking capabilities of Windows 8, and have panned the iPad for the lack of a kickstand and USB ports.
As for the Surface, the tablet has essentially been a flop, leading the company to take a $900 million write-off on the device. Nonetheless, the company will be upgrading the more-than-year-old tablet later this month. Apple, for its part, is expected to unleash its new iPads about a month later.