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Microsoft Surface set to land in South Africa in late 2013
South Africans brace yourselves. It seems Microsoft is finally taking the Surface to Africa. That’s according to a tweet from the company’s South African MD Mteto Nyati.
Nyati is currently at MS HQ in Redmond and sent out a tweet today saying that the RT and Pro versions of the tablet would be arriving the country in the latter part of 2013.
@microsoftsa will launch Surface in the 2nd half of 2013 — responding to our customers.
— Mteto Nyati (@mteton) April 17, 2013
Earlier at an Africa TechED session on the Consumerisation of IT Colin Erasmus, head of Windows Business at MSSA hinted that the Surface would be headed to the country in the next few months.
“The Microsoft Surface tablet is not available in the country yet,” he said. “I use the word yet, because we are planning on bringing it. So hopefully in the next couple of months.”
“Indications are that both versions of Surface are headed to South Africa,” Erasmus added. “We are not exactly sure when it is coming but indications are that it will be the end of the year. We don’t have all the details as of yet.”
Microsoft South Africa’s official twitter account also tweeted the following after its MD’s announcement from Redmond.
Indications are that Surface will launch in South Africa in the 2nd half of 2013
— MicrosoftSouthAfrica (@MicrosoftSA) April 17, 2013
The Redmond-based tech giant will undoubtedly be hoping that Surface sales can match those of Windows Phone in the country. Will still not spectacular, South Africa is one of a handful of countries where Windows Phone devices have been outselling iPhones.
Sales of the tablet, launched in October 2012 have been pretty slow to date. In the fourth quarter of 2012, it barely registered, and some estimate that the company has only sold around one-million of the devices since launch.
That’s a fraction of the three to five-million it is believed to have ordered prior to the device’s retail launch. On the other hand, Microsoft might have trouble flogging a year-old device.
