Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Surfacing at The Mall


In what may be test for a future permanent store, Microsoft will open a retail kiosk in The Mall next week. The opening will coincide with the launch of their new tablet, Surface.

Aside from video games, Microsoft has not enjoyed much success with its own hardware and once again it finds itself playing catch up to Apple. According to this story by Nick Wingfield in The New York Times, Surface will retail “for a starting price of $500, the same starting price as the current generation of Apple’s iPad.”

“Microsoft said it would sell a 32-gigabyte Surface bundled with a black Touch Cover, a keyboard that doubles as a protective shield for the tablet, for $600. A similar bundle with a 64-gigabyte Surface will cost $700. Microsoft will sell Touch Covers separately in a wider assortment of colors for $120, and a different type of keyboard cover with moving keys, called Type Cover, will sell for $130.”

Microsoft has already opened about 31 regular stores in the US and Canada. The closest ones to HoCo are in Virginia in Tysons Corner Center and the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. Next week they will open another 35 “curated” stores for the holiday season. Besides Columbia, the only other Maryland curated store will be in the Montgomery Mall
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