Microsoft hasn’t had the easiest time selling its Surface tablets. And now that the Surface has been on the market for about nine months, Microsoft is finally ready to get the device into the hands of enterprise users in a big way.
Previously only available through the Microsoft Store, the Redmond-based company announced today that a number of resellers will distribute the Surface in its “10,000-plus physical stores around the world.” Authorized distributors (Ingram Micro Inc., SYNNEX Corp. and Tech Data Corp.) will be be offering the device to resellers who sell to corporations and government agencies. The first batch of resellers are mainly U.S.-based companies like CDW, CompuCom, En Pointe Technologies, Insight Enterprises Inc., PC Connection Inc., PCM Inc., SHI International Corp., Softchoice, Softmart and Zones Inc. Not only are these resellers offering the device, they’ll also providing other services like onsite tech support, device recycling, and data protection. Microsoft will be expanding its distributor and reseller program to other countries in the next several months.
To make the Surface even more attractive to businesses, Microsoft is also launching an independent software program called AppsForSurface, in which Microsoft will be providing devices and funding to businesses to design apps for the Surface. Airstrip, Citrix, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Sage are already on board to create business-friendly apps for the Surface, and more apps are sure to come out of AppsForSurface for the device.
