With Amazon having recently come up with its new $199-priced Kindle Fire HD tablet, some analysts are of the opinion that Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8-based Surface tablet - the pricing of which is yet to be officially disclosed - will probably cost $299 or less.

According to a GeekWire report, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said in a recent research note that Microsoft will apparently be under "greater than ever" pressure to price its Surface tablet "aggressively."

Drawing attention to the fact that early media reports had hinted that the cost of the Surface tablet will probably in the $599 price-point, Wu said in the research note that Microsoft will apparently have to price Surface at "$299 or lower" in the wake of existing competition.

Though it can be argued that Kindle Fire HD and Surface will not be comparable devices because the former tablet has been largely designed to facilitate users in purchasing and using Amazon's ecosystem of entertainment content, while the latter will be an all-purpose tablet; analysts believe that the consumers will not view the difference from that perspective.

To the consumers, $299 will appear to be the `going price' for a tablet, since 7-inch Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 cost $199 each; and 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD is priced at $299.

Noting that it is not clear whether Microsoft reap any profit at the $299 price point for Surface, Wu said: "We believe the end game is that profitability in tablets outside of Apple will be non-existent given Amazon's aggressive pricing stance."