Scenes From the Surface Pro Launch at the Microsoft Store
Let's go to the mall, everybody! (And check out the launch of the Surface Pro at the Microsoft Store.)
Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet hasn’t exactly been the rousing success Microsoft had hoped for. With estimated sales numbers quite a bit lower that Microsoft’s projections, and the poor reception of Windows RT, Microsoft is counting on the new Surface Pro, which is powered by a Core i5 CPU and runs full Windows 8, to reverse the Surface brand’s fortunes.
Microsoft launched the Surface Pro this past Saturday, February 9 (yes, an unusual day to launch a piece of tech hardware), and we were on hand at the Canadian Microsoft Store in Toronto (the only one outside the U.S., for now) to witness the launch. You can check out our video of the launch below, in which we interview a number of people in line, and capture all the excitement of the second big tech launch of 2013 (the first being the Z10).
When we arrived at around 9 a.m., there were already around 60 people in two lines - one line for people who reserved their Pro earlier in the week, and one for those who didn’t. The first people there were two young men in the non-reserved line who had been there since 7 a.m. From speaking to them, as well as a few other people in line, it was clear that some of the negative coverage that the Surface Pro has been getting from some media did not deter them from lining up bright and early on a snowy Saturday morning. We also discovered that most people were there for the 128GB model, and we were told that the store probably wouldn’t have enough Pro’s for everyone in line.
When people were let into the store at 9:30 a.m., they were also being offered a choice of three accessory bundles to go with their Surface Pro. These bundles came with Microsoft’s ‘Surface Complete’ accidental damage extended warranty, Office 2013 or 365 Home & Student, their choice of a discounted Touch or Type cover, and a free screen protector and sleeve case. While these bundles were actually pretty good deals, individual accessories weren’t being sold at any discount with the tablets.
About an hour later we were told that, not only was the 128GB model completely sold out in-store, but that the online Microsoft store had also sold out. We quickly discovered that a number of other retailers, both in-store and online, had sold out of 128GB models as well. With around 60 people at the Microsoft Store, and an unknown number at other retailers, it’s not clear if the sell outs are being caused by demand, or simply a limited number of units being available to purchase (whether Microsoft created an artificial shortage is a question for another time), but either way it seems that the launch of the Surface Pro has been a success so far.
Stay tuned for our early hands-on video!









Interviewer: Why did you go with the Surface Pro?
Person 1: The pen!
Person 2: The kickstand!
Person 3: It's pretty!
60 people?! BWahahaha.... only one in the whole country... and it sells out?! LAME!
There are about 30 stores in the USA... any lines there? (doubt it).
Apple sells millions of units in 2-3 days... then sell out. MS sells a few thousand?
Win8 = fail
Win8 phone = warmish fail
Win8 RT = fail
Win8 Pro tablet = will fail
Windows logo = fail
Office 2013 = failing
microsoft = fail.
Anyone who buys an Apple product is terrorist untermensch deserving of a slow and horrible death. Right next to my Steve Balmer portrait I have a score card of Apple's epic failz and every time another one happens I squeeze a facial pustule to celebrate.
My "mother" bough an Apple product once in 1986 and I have never talked to her since. I think she's living on the street in Buffalo these days. A lot of good that Macintosh is doing you now, huh mom! Keeps youu nice and warn don't it?
Ha! ha! ha! ha!
And by the way, I hope that with this, my latest post, I have finally lived up to the maturity level of the average troll posting here. I certainly hope so anyway.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6695/microsoft-surface-pro-review
Reviews are already out and they're not good (mostly complaints about poor battery life, weight and the inability to use the kickstand on your lap comfortably).
- I was under the impression that the reviews were mainly positive
- Poor battery life? 6 hours web surfing is possible and more if the power profile is tweaked?
- Don't people carry their laptops? This things isn't heavy unless you're very weak
- Can you use a normal tablet on your lap? Yes, you can. Just like the Pro. The kickstand is for using on a desk.
The 60 guys are perhaps not only the ONLY people in Canada that actually bought a microsoft tablet, they are all virgins. Okay, there is a woman in 1 pic - but she drove the customer there.
I don't like win8, its but-ugly 80's retread, no talent garbage. What a waste of good programming from UI dept who made this shit and the middle & upper management retards who signed off on it.
My ex-GF totally hates win8, about several times more so. She gave it 5 minutes. My GF could care less as she mostly uses her Android phone and a few sites on my desktop. *sigh* So young women can like or hate Win8 too (both in their late 20s) but very few people are wetting their panties for Win8.
I tried to like it, I tried to use it for months... without thinking "What moron came up with this crap?"
Yeah what reviews are you reading? I guess iPad users might have those complaints since they wouldn't even know what to with the thing.
...but those of us for whom the Surface Pro is exactly what we've been waiting for, none of the items you mentioned are even on our radar. 4-6 hours battery is a beautiful thing when you are able to actually DO STUFF (I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to do with an iPad for its 8 hours of battery). Weight and kickstand? Really? These are not the concerns of real men.
60 people?! BWahahaha.... only one in the whole country... and it sells out?! LAME!
There are about 30 stores in the USA... any lines there? (doubt it).
Apple sells millions of units in 2-3 days... then sell out. MS sells a few thousand?
Win8 = fail
Win8 phone = warmish fail
Win8 RT = fail
Win8 Pro tablet = will fail
Windows logo = fail
Office 2013 = failing
Micirosoft stores = Clone store, the biggest Apple copy-cat in the world.
microsoft = fail.
Monkey Man Ballmer needs to step down... as a real chimpanzee could do a better job.
MS has lost so much market share... they have become irrelevant. As more and more people notice, its going to get worse and worse for that company. No, MS will and should not DIE... they should be a much smaller company... maybe they'll learn to innovate someday.
I've done some tradeshows with out ipad-1, and it was a life-saver compared to using any of our ThinkPads. Easier to show clients and other business people information / presentation. And yes... when YOU ARE on your feet for 7~9 hours... every pound is noticeable. So 6 hours on a low-lit screen is supposed to impress anyone? I don't get the kick-stand complaint thing either... but hey, you can't expect much from an idiot, eh?
So for many peoples needs.... the Slate devices are (1) expensive at $800~1200 (2) heavy (3) hotter (4) short battery life (5) Noisier... hell, people from the PC world have been bitching about the high price of the iPad at $500... WTF?! But $1000 is cool?!
Perhaps in 2-3 years, tablets DO replace the Desktop as the main computer... who knows? But for the typical human being... a basic tablet with iOS and Android does everything thing need.... email/ facebook and porn.
More comparisons to the iPad.
For God's sake people, get a clue. Comparing Surface Pro to ANY iPad is like comparing a 50ft offshore race boat to an inflatable raft. They both float...and that's where the similarities end. The Pro opens up an entire UNIVERSE that until now was completely inaccessible to tablets.
haha, nice story.
For some reason I felt Apple is dying faster. Most of my friends are switching to Samsung Galaxy phones, either S3 or Note 2. As far as tablet goes, when they see what Surface Pro can do(with office and windows 7 applications), they will dump their iPads faster than Apple can drop from $750/share to $450/share, haha, lol, haha.
The world can easily move on without apple and facebook, the world can't survive without Microsoft and/or Google.