MICROSOFT has axed its plan to sell its Surface tablet only online, making it available at Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi in Australia.
"We're excited to be working with JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman to expand the ways in which Australians can interact with, experience and purchase Surface," said Nigel O'Rorke, consumer channels group lead, Microsoft Australia.
Before this announcement, Microsoft had been selling its Surface RT tablet only online and through Microsoft stores in the US. As a result, US sales had been reported as "in disarray".
The Wall Street Journal blog All Things D said early demand for the company's first tablet was "lousy".
"If Microsoft really did manufacture three million to five million Surface tablets to sell in the fourth quarter, it's going to have between two million and four million left over at quarter's end," All Things D's John Paczkowski wrote.
The WSJ reported that Detwiler Fenton, a Boston-based brokerage firm, said in a research note that Microsoft was likely to sell just 500,000 to 600,000 Surface RTs in the December quarter, far below its previous expectation of one million to two million, the blog post says.
The company was now changing its tune.
"The public reaction to Surface has been exciting to see. We've increased production and are expanding the ways in which customers can interact with, experience and purchase Surface," said Surface general manager Panos Panay, without providing any specific sales figures.
A Microsoft statement said retail stores in Australia and the US would be the first to sell the introductory Surface model with Windows RT, which has many features of a tablet along with an attachable cover-keyboard.
Harvey Norman said it would sell the Surface at the same price as Microsoft from this Friday.
The 32GB Surface RT will cost $559, the same tablet with a black touch cover will cost $679 while a 64GB version with a black touch cover will sell for $789.
Microsoft said last month that its Surface Pro, a version of its new tablet aimed at business users, would be available in January starting at $US899 ($854) for US customers.
