This should double the amount of countries where Microsoft’s first tablet is up for grabs.
Surface RT was launched on October 26 in select markets. Now the Redmond giant will start selling the tablet in a total of 13 new markets, all of them in Europe, which is a very significant region.
Microsoft announced that the Surface RT will be available in comings weeks in these countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Panos Panay, the general manager of Microsoft Surface said in a press release:
“The response to Surface has been exciting to see. We’re thrilled to continue growing the Surface family with the availability of Surface Windows 8 Pro on Feb. 9 and by increasing the number of places customers can experience Surface firsthand.”
Microsoft is yet to reveal the pricing for these new markets, but it should be comparable to what the devices cost in the United States, with the most affordable model running for $499 with 32GB of storage space without a Touch Cover.
This expansion of availability comes at the right time for Microsoft, as the company gears up to launch the Pro version of the tablet on February 9.
We will find out how the European markets take up the Surface RT, but a good showing there could solidify the future of not just Microsoft’s tablet ambitions, but the Surface brand as a whole.
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So all these comparisons of how many iPads and how many Surface RTs have been sold……have we been comparing the iPad available nearly world-wide while the Surface RT has had only limited availability around the world? Well, that’s like comparing Apples and…….well, oranges. The iPad has an unfair advantage and no wonder they have sold so many since their market is huge. Maybe when Surface RT and then Surface Pro are available in EVERY country that the iPad is sold, then maybe we can start comparing sales fairly.
Fair point, that is sadly almost always overlooked by analysts.