We hadn’t mentioned it earlier, but Microsoft UK managed to sell out of the stock it had available for pre-orders of the 32Gb Surface. So out of the three options (32Gb, 32Gb with touch cover, and 64Gb with touch cover), the first two options are off the table.
Whilst we’d never expect that Microsoft would be cynical enough to create an artificial shortage to get more column inches, it does make one wonder how popular it really expected the Surface to be.
That’s when a quick hop over to the U.S. version of the Microsoft store reveals that its not just the 32Gb. All 3 models are delayed for 3 weeks.
The U.K. site itself is currently working with a 3 week wait time, so if you’ve drunk the Windows RT kool aid and are ready to try out Microsoft’s “home-grown” entrance to today’s tablet market, order one now… you don’t want to find Simon and Sally from Utah has taken your place in the queue.
Source: the BBC
Haha, sad and somewhat amusing at the same time. So, MS UK had like.. 3 in stock then? Lame. Out of all my friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances, precisely none of them have tried to order one of these. A few have ‘mentioned’ them to me in passing, but mainly to say how poor they looked and to ask why MS are even bothering.
Considering the price-point and the competition in the market place, I don’t know what MS expect to achieve here. They’re selling a 32GB tablet with a stupid keyboard cover thing for the same price as a 32GB iPad. The cheaper one without the cover will appeal to.. who exactly? You can get a 32GB Kindle Fire HD for £199. Why would anyone in their right mind bother with this.
a) It’s locked down just as much as any iPad
b) It’s expensive
c) Specs aren’t anything special
d) It just looks like ‘a tablet’
e) If you’re after ‘a tablet’, you’d go for a Nexus or Fire for a lot less money, surely?
I think Microsoft are operating under the misapprehension that their ‘reputation’ makes them somehow appealing. From my point-of-view their reputation was shot years ago. They’ve been resting on their laurels providing us with overpriced, buggy and bloated software, and I think people are generally sick of their brands. Apple, despite my opinion of that company, actually does give a perceived premium product, and that’s why they can still shift millions despite being the most expensive.
Microsoft have very little going in their favour, and unless this thing was ultra-available, could sell it at a price to compete with the Kindle and at the same time offer a superior experience, I can’t see how they could possibly expect to sell any. I mean, seriously, you’d have to be completely stupid to buy one, wouldn’t you?
You get what you pay for lets see the nexus 7 overall experience and how the market likes it.
if they are being sold at a loss and the OS is sluggish and apps not made for the screen size i wouldn’t want one just because its cheap and poorly made…
Microsoft are going down the route of full integration and quality with there products which is what i want to see …