$499 Microsoft Surface Tablet Option Already Sold Out
Prices for the tablet were announced just a day ago.
Only a day after the prices were announced for the tablet, the $499 model for Microsoft's Surface has seen its pre-orders delayed to three weeks.
The $499 model on Surface's product page is already showcasing a delay of 3 weeks, with the two other models that are being sold at higher prices being available for delivery by October 26.
Component supplier sources in Asia recent suggested that Microsoft will ship between 3 million and 5 million Surface tablets during the fourth quarter of 2012. The figures are reportedly in line with Amazon and Google for their Android-powered Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 tablets.
Microsoft has further showcased confidence in the tablet with chief executive Steve Ballmer suggesting that Surface's commercial performance could see the tablet selling "a few million" over the duration of the next 12 months.
Surface will officially launch alongside operating system Windows 8 on October 26.

Hopefully the surface does what is promised, it looks to be a very promising product; I'd love one myself too.
Hopefully the surface does what is promised, it looks to be a very promising product; I'd love one myself too.
Sorry, I don't think so; not for M$ and not for Apple either.
Well, thats the main difference, Apple release hardware with beta software, this time microsoft is doing that, but you're not payin to be a beta tester, in fact AFAIK microsoft gives away hardware to be a beta tester.
Yes having Windows on ARM is a bit beta but at least is not like apple at all. i think windows 8 is going to be a bit of a researching product more than a beta one....they already have the Desktop users against Metro look and there is a high expentancy on their new tablets so they will release Windows 9 fast (2-2.5 years) but with windows we will see a more proper OS for both desktops, cellphones and pc's, even other smartgadgets like is happening with android and more importantly with great updates and service packs, and not the new os = new product that Apple and Google had made up.
Don't get me wrong i love android but i hate to relay in Sony or samgun or motorola to release the new os to my cellphone way too much time after it is released and many of the times have to take the "custom room" highway i like more to have it like old time when Os updates where "universal" in a sort of.
Probably only had a few thousand so they could say...Nope All sold out. It helps to make things seem like there is a lot of demand for the product and if everyone is in such a big hurry to get theirs, you should be to. Marketing.
-CB
all 20 that were featured in the commercial were sold
Oh yeah, marketing chicanery...
Wow? How old are you? Microsoft has never released a Windows OS that does not need heavy patching immediately after hitting the stores!!!
Wow? How old are you? Microsoft Patches every OS every month on the second Tuesday. RTM was sent out nearly three months ago, so it will have three months of patching day 1. This is not hidden / uncommon knowledge...
I seriously doubt Microsoft is playing the "there is only one" rice crispy treat style marketing. They probably underestimated demand for the tegra3 version of the tablet. As long as Citrix and outlook work's we will (finally) be replacing the nightmare this is ipad + exchange....
Here here. In addition, native RDP from SoC. I could see the surface tablet actually being able to be modestly productive since they are also throwing in office. At the very least when you are sitting in bed at home.
This is a rumour, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was just a normal business decision as Microsoft did indeed promise that the Surface would be available with the Touch Cover (as standard, one would believe, according to the ad, as that is one of the main features that sets it apart from the competition), which was very well pointed out by the Ars Technica article here: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/10/surface-pricing-499-for-32-gb-preordering-starts-today-at-9am-pt/. Postponing the availability of the cheaper device to a later date in order to conform to the initial publicity may just be damage control. Turning this into a "sold out" news is just plain unconfirmed.
They may have sold a few and then decided to place that message in order to do what I said above. That message on their site is no indication that the first shipment is sold out, let alone tells us how many they sold.
I dont think it works that way...
Microsoft would never give that data away, very sensitive to their business goals. With that information, Apple, Amazon and Google could learn a great deal about Surface that MS doesn't want them to know.
I'd guess that there have probably been upper hundred thousands of pre-orders. They say 3-5M sales by the end of the year, which includes the holiday season. Lump the first months sales and pre-orders together for simplicity, say half the sales are for Christmas and you get an upper limit of around 1M sales in the first month. A good chunk of those will be pre-orders, but not all, so upper hundred thousands.
Good start, but not exactly bursting out of the gate either.