Microsoft to expand Surface Pro sales to China next week First market outside the U.S. and Canada to get the Windows 8 tablet

Microsoft
will start selling the Surface
Pro tablet in China next week,
the company said yesterday.
According to the company's
Chinese e-store, the Surface
Pro will go on sale April 2 at
9 p.m. local time.
The Chinese debut will be the
tablet's first market
expansion since its U.S. and
Canadian launch on Feb. 9.
Microsoft first announced the
Surface Pro's availability on
the Chinese-language Weibo
social networking service
Thursday.
LiveSino.net reported earlier
in the day that Microsoft was
introducing the tablet in
China next Tuesday.
It's been no secret that China
was on the short list for the
Surface Pro. Three weeks ago,
Microsoft said the Windows 8
Pro-powered device would go
on sale in several more
markets in the second
quarter, including Australia,
China, France, Germany, Hong
Kong, New Zealand and the
U.K.
The Microsoft Store does not
show prices for the Surface
Pro, but another Chinese
website, WPDang , said the
64GB model would cost 6,588
yuan, equivalent to $1,061.
The higher-priced 128GB
Surface Pro, meanwhile, will
be priced at 7,388 yuan ($
1,190).
U.S. prices for the Surface
Pro are $899 (64GB) and $
999 (128GB).
Microsoft has to hope that
the Surface Pro does better in
China than the lower-priced
Surface RT predecessor:
Research firm IDC pegged
shipments -- which are
different, usually higher, than
sales -- of the latter in China
at just 30,000 units during
the last two months of 2012's
fourth quarter. Worldwide,
Microsoft shipped
approximately 900,000
Surface RTs in the same
period, IDC said.
Microsoft's Chinese move
hints that stock shortages
have been solved. While the
Surface Pro is now ready to
ship from Microsoft's U.S. e-
store, last month the 128GB
configuration's availability
was spotty for several weeks
following the tablet's launch.
The Surface Pro goes on sale
in China next Tuesday, April
2, at 9 p.m. local time.
(Image: Microsoft.)