Microsoft Surface Tablet Surfaces on Product Pages

News
By Zak Islam
published

Tablet set to also launch in France, Italy and Germany.

Microsoft has started to tease its forthcoming Surface tablet by listing the device on several product pages.

Product sites for the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany all showcase the Windows 8-powered tablet as an item under the product category.

However, when clicking on the link for Surface, visitors will be directed towards the U.S. page for the tablet. The page does, though, state that the tablet is "coming soon".

Unfortunately for those interested in the tablet, Microsoft has remained tight-lipped on details about Surface ever since its announcement. That said, with Windows 8 due to launch on October 26, the firm confirmed back in July that the device would launch during the same time-frame.

As for the tablet's price, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had recently stressed that Surface would possibly launch with a price tag between $300 and $800. While that's a considerable gap, we should know the final pricing within a matter of weeks.

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Zak Islam
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • The Norwegian page also has it listed ;)
    Reply
  • bllue
    $299-399 first day purchase
    Reply
  • ojas
    They've been up for a long, long time now...
    Reply
  • dotaloc
    "As for the tablet's price, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had recently stressed that Surface would possibly launch with a price tag between $300 and $800."

    ...possibly, outside of the $500 price gap we've allowed. In other news, he also stressed that it'd definitely be under $5,000. So...that is something.
    Reply
  • Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer
    The difference between $300 and $800 is the difference between me buying one as a development tool and me not even bothering to do "Metro" development. At $300 they'll be a viable competitor to the iPad. At $400 they'll probably do all right. At $800 they'll sink like the Titanic.

    Microsoft's little experiment can succeed, but not with the device prices we're already seeing from OEMs. Asus are out of their g-dd-mn-d minds. Lenovo's ThinkPad is a better deal if the keyboard it ships with is the same as their current ThinkPad laptops. The rumors about Acer's pricing are all over the place, but I'm not optimistic (which is sad, 'cause I think the W510 is adorably cheesy).

    My favorite part of all this is is how it seems like Windows 8 tablets are topping out at 4GB RAM when the WP8 emulator recommends at least 8GB, and the absolute cheapest device with a non-Atom Intel processor (that I've seen) is the Acer W700 at $800 (which doesn't come with a laptop dock, which kills it for me). It's kind of bull$#!+ when you consider that people will probably want to develop for both phones and tablets at the same time...
    Reply
  • mynameis1
    this is going to kill netbook sales..
    I am def interested into this as long it has USB and HDMI out.
    Reply
  • chomlee
    My feeling is that they will offer a service where everything is backed up on the cloud and will automatically sync from one device to another. I know, Many apple and android devices already do that, but the ability to do that in your windows environment without the help of drop box or other storage devices would be great.

    What is also a key is the pricing of windows 8. I don't think anyone would have any interest in these devices unless it plays seemlessly with their computer/laptop. This means that if you buy a surface tablet or windows 8 phone, you would probably want to upgrate your OS to windows 8 as well. It sounds like they already have some affordable upgrade plans. If done right, windows 8 could be a winner. If done wrong, it will really damage microsoft.
    Reply
  • mynameis1
    yes well saidchomlee.. i am sure they done their homework watching crapple
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    mynameis1this is going to kill netbook sales.. I am def interested into this as long it has USB and HDMI out.Netbooks will still have a niche market for people who need cheap portable x86 devices. But I think you are right; the general public will pick up a $300 ARM tablet over a $275 x86 netbook any day.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    Old_Fogie_Late_BloomerMy favorite part of all this is is how it seems like Windows 8 tablets are topping out at 4GB RAM when the WP8 emulator recommends at least 8GB, and the absolute cheapest device with a non-Atom Intel processor (that I've seen) is the Acer W700 at $800 (which doesn't come with a laptop dock, which kills it for me). It's kind of bull$#!+ when you consider that people will probably want to develop for both phones and tablets at the same time...You don't need Ivy Bridge for a fast and responsive Win8 tablet. The demo units have already shown this. The more recent Atoms aren't bad for that sort of usage, or an AMD Z-60 would be good too. Also, there may very well be models that launch with more than 4GB of memory in the near future.

    If that's a deal breaker, either A) Wait or B) Develop on a laptop running Windows 8 (which obviously includes RunTime) with a touchscreen. Heck at that point you could get pretty much everything up and running on RunTime on the x86 lappy before you start moving stuff over to an ARM WinRT tablet or WP8 device.
    Reply