When it comes to retail distribution, Microsoft’s Surface RT has a fancy story to tell. From being sold out at initial launch to criticism for restrained availability, and finally improved distribution channels, it packs quite a tale.
But this is one story that is well set to continue.
Microsoft CFO, Peter Klein, already promised expanded distribution channels for Surface RT when announcing the company’s quarterly earnings on Thursday. Now rumors are prevalent that the tablet could soon be available for purchase at Costco stores.
In fact, WPCentral.com received an image showing a Costco inventory listing screen (MS-DOS we meet again) and it shows various variants of the Surface RT tablet, from 32GB version with and without Touch Covers, 64GB versions with the accessory and all that.
I will leave the details of the image to you, but basically pricing is pretty good here.
Though the good news is that unlike other retail outlets, Costco appears to offering users their choice of the Touch Cover, instead of limiting them to just the black version.
While no exact date when sales will start is available, but if the rumor holds true, it would make Costco the fourth retail outlet in the United States to carry the tablet — Microsoft Stores were the first, and were followed by Best Buy and Staples.
This increased distribution is good news as it confirms Redmond is pushing Surface RT through as many sales channels as possible. Microsoft has what, 30 Microsoft Stores in the United States. The more the tablet gets in the public eye, the better.
How long till the device shows up at Walmart, then?
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What about the UK though! I as well as several of my colleagues are have been very patiently waiting for the Surface Pro to only find out that the release date it only within the USA! How much longer to we have to wait as there are now other Windows 8 Pro tablets coming up on the market and are looking more and more tempting by the day!!
Agree about UK. Don’t quite think you guys will be getting it any time soon. Microsoft could very well take the whole first month to gauge demand in North America.
Other markets would probably get the slate sometimes in March.
That’s not MS-DOS. That is a standard telnet application.
Awesome, thanks!