Microsoft confirms Surface will ship on October 26
- 30 July, 2012 14:39
- Comments
Microsoft Surface tablets will go on sale on Oct. 26, the same day that Windows 8 becomes available, the company disclosed in a 10-K report filed on July 26 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Pricing for the Surface tablets, which run Windows 8 or Windows RT, wasn't disclossed.
Microsoft didn't respond to a request for comment on the 10-K report or its tablet pricing plans on Monday.
In the 10K filing, Microsoft said, "The next version of our operating system, Windows 8, will be generally available on October 26, 2012. At that time, we will begin selling the Surface, a series of Microsoft-designed and manufactured hardware devices."
Microsoft had previously announced via a blog post that Oct. 26 would be the launch date for Windows 8. The brief blog post, however, didn't specifically refer to the company's shipping plan for the Surface tablets.
In June, when Microsoft showed the 10.6-in. Surface tablets for the first time at Hollywood press event, company officials said that ARM-based versions of Surface for Windows RT would come out first -- at about the time of the general release of Windows 8.
The Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet, which runs an Intel chip, would launch about three months after the ARM tablets Microsoft said during the unveiling.
At the time, Microsoft said the Windows RT-based Surface tablets would be priced about the same as comparable tablets, while the Surface Windows 8 Pro would be priced about the same as ultrabooks, Microsoft said.
Microsoft on Monday separately announced new keyboards and mice that are optimized for the Windows 8 OS.
In the 10-K filing, Microsoft also acknowledged that it risks alienating its computer manufacturing partners with the launch of its Surface devices.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen, or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.
Read more about mobile/wireless in Computerworld's Mobile/Wireless Topic Center.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Larry Page wants to see your medical records
-
Dual-Persona Smartphones Not a BYOD Panacea
-
After two-year hiatus, EFF accepts bitcoin donations again
-
CIOs struggle to deliver timely mobile business apps: survey
-
Spiceworks' free management software gets integrated MDM
-
Managing the Rapid Rise in Database Growth: 2011 IOUG Survey on Database Manageability
As the era of “Big Data” marches on unabated, data is coming from an ever wider range of sources, including transactional systems, mobile devices, sensors, streaming media, and social networks. Businesses are looking for innovative ways to better leverage terabytes—and for some, petabytes—of information. Read more. -
Integrated Computing Platforms: Infrastructure Builds for Tomorrow’s Data Centre
Integrated Computing Platforms, such as EMC VSPEX RAs, provide a solution by eliminating the time (and cost) of designing, testing, and engineering integrated environments with components built independently of one another. These validated architectures are ready for production environments upon delivery, and offer a single point of support should IT require it. Learn more on how a leading IT vendor has aligned product innovation with an IT market need to improve efficiency, performance, and value for SMBs. -
Russian Underground 101
This research paper intends to provide a brief summary of the cybercriminal underground and shed light on the basic types of hacker activity in Russia. It discusses fundamental concepts that Russian hackers follow and the information they share with their peers. It also examines prices charged for various types of services, along with how prevalent the given services are in advertisements. The primary features of each type of activity and examples of associated service offerings are discussed as well. Read this paper.















