Microsoft launches iPad trade-in scheme for potential Surface buyers

Microsoft is hoping to convert Apple fans by offering a gift card worth $200 if they trade-in their iPads for a Surface.

In its new promotion, the firm said it would accept a "gently used"iPad 2, 3, or 4 and give customers a $200 gift card they can use towards the purchase of a Surface or other products available from the Microsoft Store. The exchanged tablets will need to be submitted with their charging cable too.

The deal runs from 5 September to 27 October and applies only to "select Microsoft retail stores in US (including Puerto Rico) and Canada". There is no word from Microsoft on whether it will extend the deal to iPad users in the UK.

Whether or not iPad users will take up the opportunity is another thing. Currently on eBay's US site, most iPad 2 tablets are going for upwards of $250.

As reported on IT Pro, Microsoft admitted that it made far too many Surface RT tablets which led to the company having to swallow a $900 million write-down, revealed in its recent financial results. The firm also had to slash prices by $150 to shift units after criticism over therelatively high price of the devices.

In order to shift tablets in the UK, Microsoft finally got the channel involved with a reseller programme, launched mid-August this year.

Microsoft is set to launch its next generation tablets, dubbed the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, on 23 September.

The software giant is expected to use the event to unveil its next-generationSurface ProandSurface RTtablets, with the devices expected to go on sale around the time of the Windows 8.1update in October.