Microsoft is set to expand the international availability of its Surface tablets significantly over the next two months, according to a blog post by the company early Tuesday.
At the end of February, we announced that we were broadening the availability of the Surface family. Since then, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that people want us to expand availability further and faster. We know it took us a while to get back to you, but we hear you, and are excited to be able to provide an update on the countries where Surface RT and Surface Pro will be launching in May and June.
The ARM-based Surface RT, which first launched in late October 2012, will expand to Mexico by the end of May and to Korea and Thailand in June. Due to its head start, the device is already available in 26 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The x86-based Surface Pro, released in February, is currently only available in the United States, Canada, and China. Microsoft plans to expand its reach to 24 additional markets in the next two months. This includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom by the end of May, and Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand by the end of June. No pricing information for these new markets is yet available.
The company also promised to address supply issues with its 128GB Surface Pro model. A controversial issue revolving around Surface is the amount of space left for user data. After accounting for formatting and essential operating system files, users have access to significantly less storage space than advertised. The 64GB model, for example, leaves the user with only 23GB of available space out of the box, while the 128GB model has 83GB available by default.
As a result, those with a strong interest in adopting Microsoft’s new platform have been eager to pick up the larger 128GB configuration, as the 23GB of free space on the 64GB model is insufficient for many users.
This increased demand, along with production shortages, has left the 128GB model out of stock at most retailers. Brian Hall, the Surface division’s General Manager, stated in the blog post that the company is aware of the shortages and is “working hard” to increase availability so that existing markets and new markets alike will have “the 128GB product consistently in stock.”