Asus gives in to Microsoft's Surface, too, VivoTab RT goes to $550 with the keyboard dock

After Acer taking a wait-and-see approach with a Windows RT tablet to see if there is room for it at all against Microsoft's own Surface, now Asus is giving up, lowering the price of its VivoTab RT, and even throwing in a free keyboard dock in the process.

There are a few hoops to jump through to get to that $549.99 price plus dock, like signing up for the ASUS Membership program, as well as uploading a picture of the serial number and the purchase label. In the end you get a 32 GB VivoTab RT with a $200 value keyboard dock that doubles the battery life, for $550. 

These moves prove that Microsoft's Surface strategy might play out after all. It didn't subsidize the RT tablet as manufacturers were fearing, but yet the slate is shaping up to be the main consumer choice in the Win RT world, and other makers are gradually throwing in the towel.