If you were wondering how well the public would take to a Microsoft-made tablet costing $899 or more… quite well, at least from initial impressions. The 128GB Surface Pro has sold out at Microsoft’s US online store, and checks suggest a lack of stock at both the company’s retail stores as well as Best Buy and Staples. Canada is facing similar shortages at Best Buy and Future Shop. Not surprisingly, storage worries (since partly alleviated) have left the 64GB tablet as the only one in consistent supply, and we suspect that the 128GB model in Microsoft’s Canadian store won’t last for much longer. We’d be cautious before declaring the Surface Pro a runaway hit, however — there’s no word on how many units each store had, and Microsoft has refrained from reporting Surface sale numbers to date. Still, the early uptake is good news for Microsoft’s first foray into designing an x86 PC, and it shows that many early adopters aren’t hung up on the price.
Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft Store, Best Buy, Staples
Location data has been used by companies to help generate relevant ads and direct you to websites that are suited for your region, but interestingly Staples seems to have taken it one step further and now uses your location to help determine what kind of prices you will see on their website. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, they have found that depending on where you live, and how close you are to a Staples competitor, the price reflected on its website will vary for a product viewed by someone else living in a different state or different suburb. The report from the Wall Street Journal has also found that areas in which the average household income is higher have prices which are more discounted versus areas in which average household income is lower, whereby prices are actually higher.
While getting your documents or photos printed at your local office supplies center such as Staples is pretty common, we’re not sure if going to Staples to get objects printed in 3D is. Perhaps it could be in the future and Staples appears to be interested in being part of that future with a newly launched service called Staples Easy 3D. Unfortunately this service is launching in 2013 and appears to be limited to the Netherlands and Belgium, but we expect that if it were to take off the way Staples has in mind, we could see it stateside in the future.
