blog The availability of Microsoft’s new Surface tablets in Australia is rapidly reaching the stage of a farce. Just one month ago Redmond launched the supposedly flagship device in the US and in Canada, but made no mention of launches in other first-world, early technology adopter countries such as Australia. Just one month later, overnight last night in the US, the company said Australia and a number of other countries would receive the Surface Pro “in the coming months”, but without giving a firm date. The company’s statement:

Microsoft Corp. today announced that beginning late March the rollout of Surface will continue, bringing Surface RT with Windows RT to Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan and Surface Pro with Windows 8 Pro to Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in the coming months.

“We are eager to see people and businesses in more countries get a chance to experience this new category of devices,” said Panos Panay, corporate vice president, Microsoft Surface. “Surface is the best of a tablet and a PC.”

And meanwhile, Microsoft Australia still hasn’t been able to deliver review units of the Surface RT, which launched in Australia months ago, fuelling the impression that the company just doesn’t have that many units of the Surface RT at all locally. What the hell is going on, Microsoft? When is Australia going to get any certainty around Surface supply? After all, Windows 8 isn’t going to sell itself — apparently it needs all the help it can get.

Image credit: Microsoft

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1. Mike
   Posted 01/03/2013 at 11:42 am | Permalink | Reply

   The problem I see is that Microsoft is latecomer to the tablet space and it’s questionable whether there’s a need for another competitor in that space.

   So, the real question is whether Microsoft will accept that the (eventual) failure of the Surface to gain any real traction in the (flooded) tablet market is their own fault or whether they’ll blame consumers for insignificant take up rates.

   More choice is always great for consumers but we’re quick to move on when supply cannot meet demand. Especially when there are plenty of excellent, already proven alternatives available.

2. Simon Shaw
   Posted 01/03/2013 at 12:11 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Yawn. Get a decent laptop with touch screen for less than Surface Pro cost.

3. Shannon Pace
   Posted 01/03/2013 at 12:11 pm | Permalink | Reply

   i wouldn’t be so free with that ‘everntual’ failure opinion…

   this is v1 of the product and it is a very good product already. it will only get better with time…

   and i wouldn’t call microsoft a latecomer. i remember the compaq tc1000 tablet (still the best form factor IMO). that was 10 years ago… windows tablets have been around for a long time. the hardware is only starting to catch up….

   • Mike
     Posted 01/03/2013 at 5:58 pm | Permalink | Reply

     I’m not forming my opinion based on the quality of the product itself or the companies previous experience with a product. I have no doubts that it would not have even gone to market if it wasn’t up to the minimum expected standards that Microsoft have these days. They’re not the same company as they were 5+ years ago.

     I have formed my opinion on the fact that, for them to even scratch the surface (no pun intended) of the tablet market as it is today (and not 10 years ago) that they’ve got a long way to go even if they get everything right. Their competitors have had a massive head start and are very well established.

     Microsft tablets do not have the market penetration that iOS or Android based devices have. Their app store platform is hardly mature and the quality of apps just isn’t up to the same standard when compared to those found in competitors offerings.

     However, none of this matters if they cannot resolve the supply issues.

     I’m not against there being another competitor because I cannot ignore the benefits to consumers when there is (healthy) competition. All I’m saying is I don’t think Microsoft is quite there yet to be able to provide that competition to the existing products in todays marketplace.

     • SMEMatt
       Posted 02/03/2013 at 11:47 am | Permalink | Reply

       Microsoft big advantage is the enterprise space. Tighter integration with their server stack and the ability run windows native apps on the surface pro, while one of their major competitors only offer grudging support to enterprise deployment(glares at Apple). It is one of the reasons blackberry still exist in the phone space and in the tablet area Microsoft well positioned in the enterprise market.

4. Karl
   Posted 01/03/2013 at 10:25 pm | Permalink | Reply

   The number of Surface units in Australia is greater only than the number of people who care. Bazinga :D

5. Dave
   Posted 01/03/2013 at 11:02 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I gave up waiting and got and Acer Insire, with optional folio keyboard. The docking station and extra battery life was just a bonus.

6. joe
   Posted 04/03/2013 at 10:19 am | Permalink | Reply

   Is there anything preventing people buying from the US through a third party re-router like hopshopgo? Is there anything physically preventing people from buying and registering these?

7. oliverzip
   Posted 06/03/2013 at 10:21 am | Permalink | Reply

   Sigh. A digital stylus would have been nice with my Surface RT, even as an option. Suspect I’ve done my money.

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