Posted in Computing, Software, Wireless
Posted on 25 April 2013. Tags: belgium, computing, denmark, korea, luxembourg, malaysia, netherlands, portugal, russia, singapore, windows
Microsoft announced today that the Surface Pro tablet will be released in 19 additional countries – including Australia – in May, plus five more by the end of June, as revealed in the Surface blog.
Add to that list the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland in May as well, and the Surface Pro will finally be a global product.
But it won’t stop there – the following month, in June, the Surface Pro will launch in Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Surface going global
Unlike the Surface RT, which runs a dumbed-down version of Windows known as Windows RT, the Surface Pro runs a fully functional version of Windows 8.
The Pro version of the Surface tablet is currently availably only in the U.S., Canada and China, but that will change rapidly starting next month as Microsoft’s flagship tablet begins rolling out to 24 additional countries.
The Surface RT, meanwhile, already available in 25 markets, will extend its reach soon as well: the inferior Surface tablet will launch in Malaysia on April 25th, in Mexico by the end of May and in Korea and Thailand in June, Microsoft revealed.
Learning from past mistakes
Microsoft claimed that demand for Surface tablets has been high, and that it’s had difficulty keeping the 128GB Surface Pro in stock. That may account for the delay in the tablet’s global launch – at least that’s what Microsoft seems to be saying.
The company also said that would-be Surface users around the world have requested more updates, prompting Microsoft to add:
“To those of you who have pressed for information – please understand that before making these announcements we make sure that we have the volume of devices in place and alignment with our retail partners to do each launch well.”
To be fair, any release delays are understandable considering what happened when the Surface Pro launched in the U.S. No doubt Microsoft is eager not to repeat those mistakes.
Posted in Computing, Mobile Phones, Software
Posted on 23 April 2013. Tags: australia, austria, belgium, computing, korea, luxembourg, microsoft, netherlands, norway, portugal, retail, russia, singapore, sweden, windows
Microsoft announced today that the Surface Pro tablet will be released in 19 additional countries in May, plus five more by the end of June.
Notably, the Surface pro will arrive in the U.K. in May, Microsoft revealed on its Surface blog.
Add to that Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland in May as well, and the Surface Pro will finally be a global product.
But it won’t stop there – the following month, in June, the Surface Pro will launch in Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Surface going global
Unlike the Surface RT, which runs a dumbed-down version of Windows known as Windows RT, the Surface Pro runs a fully functional version of Windows 8.
The Pro version of the Surface tablet is currently availably only in the U.S., Canada and China, but that will change rapidly starting next month as Microsoft’s flagship tablet begins rolling out to 24 additional countries.
The Surface RT, meanwhile, already available in 25 markets, will extend its reach soon as well: the inferior Surface tablet will launch in Malaysia on April 25th, in Mexico by the end of May and in Korea and Thailand in June, Microsoft revealed.
Learning from past mistakes
Microsoft claimed that demand for Surface tablets has been high, and that it’s had difficulty keeping the 128GB Surface Pro in stock. That may account for the delay in the tablet’s global launch – at least that’s what Microsoft seems to be saying.
The company also said that would-be Surface users around the world have requested more updates, prompting Microsoft to add:
“To those of you who have pressed for information – please understand that before making these announcements we make sure that we have the volume of devices in place and alignment with our retail partners to do each launch well.”
To be fair, any release delays are understandable considering what happened when the Surface Pro launched in the U.S. No doubt Microsoft is eager not to repeat those mistakes.
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Posted in Computing, Software, Wireless
Posted on 22 January 2013. Tags: computing, european, graphics, intel, italy, japan, luxembourg, manager, microsoft, netherlands, phone, spain, sweden, windows
Microsoft’s Surface Pro Windows 8 tablet goes on sale only slightly later than expected, on February 9, and in the US and Canada to start with.
When Surface General Manager Panos Panay tweeted recently that he was jetting off to the factory to see Surface Pro units shipping “in the coming weeks” it didn’t add much to the original promise that Surface Pro would ship around 90 days after the Windows RT version.
But now Microsoft has confirmed the early February date in addition to pricing – $899 for the 64GB version and $999 for the 128GB model.
Actual international pricing is yet to be announced, but those directly convert to £567 / AU$852 for the 64GB model and £629 / AU$945 for the 128GB edition.
The specs are the same as the Surface Pro we tried out at CES, with what Microsoft is calling a “third generation Intel Core i5 processor with Intel HD Graphics 400″; until we see an actual unit, we can’t say whether Surface Pro will have the new low-power Core CPU Intel announced at CES or not.
The external graphics is more clearly identified as an HD Mini DisplayPort now; you’ll need an adapter but it lets you drive VGA screens and still get an HD image on an external HD screen. And Surface for Windows 8 Pro also comes with a version of the neat Surface RT power adapter that includes a 5W USB port for charging your phone (or even another tablet).
Accessorise
Both versions of Surface Pro include the active Surface pen we tried out at CES and they work with the same Touch Cover and Type Cover keyboards as Surface RT.
As with Surface RT, the keyboard isn’t included in the price though; in fact Microsoft is also introducing a $599 version of the 64GB Surface RT without the keyboard, so you can pick the keyboard colour or design you want.
That could be one of three $129.99 limited edition Touch Cover designs in red, magenta or cyan with a laser-etched design on the back.
There’s also a special $69.95 “Surface Edition” of the Wedge Touch Mouse which works like a large external touchpad for Windows 8 gestures, as well as a nicely portable mouse. The special edition part is the casing, which matches the VaporMag coating on Surface RT and Surface Pro.
If it’s Surface RT you’re after, you’ll soon be able to buy it in twice as many countries; the Windows RT tablet will be on sale in 13 more European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland).
British connection
We asked Microsoft when Surface Pro will be available to buy in the UK.
“We are taking a phased approach to the rollout of Surface Windows 8 Pro to satisfy retailer and customer demand,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “You can expect expansion of Surface Windows 8 Pro in the coming months. We’re not confirming where it will expand to right now or the exact dates, however.”
Hopefully that will avoid the initial problems Microsoft had in the UK shipping Surface RT.
  
Posted in Computing, Software, Wireless
Posted on 15 November 2012. Tags: apple, australia, brazil, computing, cupertino, description, everything-else, flipboard, flipboard-users, france, ibookstore, italy, netherlands, onerous-at-best, quite-the-same
Apple has partnered with Flipboard to showcase its iBookstore books through a new section of the magazine-inspired app on iOS.
iPad, iPhone and iPod touch Flipboard-users will be able to browse and buy books through the app, with Flipboard apparently taking 5 per cent of every sale.
The new section is Apple’s iBookstore, and the uncharacteristic partnership should solve the Cupertino crew’s big problem of getting the right books in front of the right people – browsing the iBookstore is onerous at best.
But Flipboard is geared towards finding new and interesting things, laid out in a deliciously eyecatching way.
Read only
It’s not quite the same as whiling hours away in a dusty old bookshop though – the new biblioboard section turns out to be little more than a glorified catalogue.
Still, you’ll be able leaf through the latest and most popular books in 25 various categories, from bestsellers to fiction and literature, children and teens, biographies and more.
Once you’ve bought a book, you won’t be reading it in the Flipboard app though; it only showcases the description, cover art and link to buy – everything else takes you out of Flipboard and into iBookstore and iBooks.
The new book section is live now in the iOS Flipboard app in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
  
Posted in Computing, Software, Wireless
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