Microsoft Reveals 12 Days of Deals, Unwraps $79 Tablet

Microsoft Store, the retail arm of the company with the same name, offered some great deals on tablets and PC extras during Black Friday. Now it’s trying to outdo them with the 12 Days of Deals, a return of a promotion it held last year. The first of these deals is a $79 Toshiba Encore Mini.

News about the 12 Days of Deals promotion surfaced earlier this week when Microsoft Store Canada revealed it’d be continuing the holiday themed sale. However, the Microsoft Store site in the United States didn’t offer any information about a 12 Days of Deals promotion here. That led some to conclude that stores in the U.S. wouldn’t be participating. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Microsoft will announce a single deal on select products once a day from December 8th until December 19th. Instead of announcing the sales ahead of time, Microsoft is staying true to form and only revealing what each deal will be at 8AM Eastern Standard Time on that day.

The Microsoft Store has a growing footprint, but there aren’t so many that the majority of shoppers won’t have a hard time making their way into a Microsoft Store for a specific deal. Microsoft says shoppers trying to take advantage of the 12 Days of Deals promotion will need to check in-store and online availability for each deal specifically. In short, some deals may require that users make the purchase in-store, but the Microsoft Store isn’t ruling out it’s website as a way to get some of the savings. Shoppers will definitely want to get on the deals quickly. The company won’t be offering rain checks and supplies will be limited.

Last year Microsoft offered big discounts on notebooks, accessories and even its own services. For example, Xbox Music, the streaming music service for Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox One and the Xbox 360, was just $29.99. A single year of Xbox Music costs $99 at Amazon right now. Microsoft marked its Surface tablet and keyboard down by $100 in another deal.

Shoppers who purchase the Toshiba Encore Mini on December 8th are getting a pretty good deal. The Toshiba Encore Mini is a Windows tablet with plenty to offer. A 7-inch high-definition touch screen dominates the front of the device. Inside is an Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM. 16GB of storage is built-in, but users can add more using a MicroSD card slot. Included is a 16GB MicroSD card to put in that storage slot. A front-facing and rear-facing camera are also built-in.

The company is also throwing in Office 365 Personal for a single year. That’s the subscription service that allows Windows and Mac users to download copies of Microsoft Office. The Toshiba Encore Mini is great for those with light needs.

Normally, the Toshiba Encore Mini would cost $119. A year of Office 365 Personal goes for $69.99 on Microsoft’s website. Its $6.99 a month for those who don’t wish to pay for a year in advance. Ironically, the best perk of all isn’t even the lower price or specific to the Toshiba Encore Mini.

In detailing its vision for the Microsoft Store before launch, the company talked a lot about what consumers liked and didn’t like about buying a PC in a store. One of the biggest negatives was the sometimes ridiculous amount of apps PC vendors would add to low cost machines. Every notebook, desktop and tablet sold at the Microsoft – including the Toshiba Encore Mini – has been scrubbed of extra add-ons. You can purchase anything at the Microsoft Store assured that you won’t have to spend an hour or so uninstalling things you don’t need. GottaBeMobile has more great holiday deals in its Holiday Gift Guide.