The first generation Surface tablets have been quite an opportunity for Microsoft to not just outline its hardware ambitions and aspirations of becoming a devices and services company, but also to streamline its retail channels.
The company has, in the past month or two, been looking into ways to extend channel distribution in the international markets. The United Kingdom in particular is a market with immense potential for the Surface Pro tablet, and Redmond has already initiated a number of unique UK ventures.
But now the software titan wants to pitch its Surface Pro slate to more business users.
With this in mind, the company will soon launch a pilot program with local partners. The Channel has the full lowdown on this, and writes that Insight, Kelway, Misco, SSC, and Computacenter are the partners that have been chosen to take part in the test.
The technology giant is planning to attract as many business customers as it can in the United Kingdom.
The director of partner strategy and programmes at Microsoft UK, Janet Gibbons, detailed this pilot program saying:
“It is a pilot, the reason we are calling it a pilot is that we want to make sure we get this right. There is a lot to do between now and then. We have a few partners that we can work really closely with, make sure we’ve got the right model, the size of demand of the market and scale out on that basis. That is how we are approaching it.”
As noted above, the Surface Pro is Microsoft’s big bet at business users. The company had already confirmed this at the launch of the tablet earlier this year, saying that it wants the Surface Pro to appeal to business users as it runs the full version of Windows 8 Pro.
The support for desktop Windows applications, just like a traditional laptop or desktop PC, has been cited as the defining factor for the Surface Pro, not just by Microsoft but also a number of analysts.
