UK partners face wait for Microsoft Surface Book

Vendor's laptop will not hit Europe until 2016, with go-to-market plans still undecided

Microsoft's European channel is facing a wait of up to six months for the vendor's newly launched Surface Book laptop, with no sales of the device to take place in Europe in 2015, CRN has learned.

The software giant unveiled the device (pictured) yesterday, announcing that in the US it will be sold via the Microsoft online store, as well as through the vendor's fleet of more than 100 own-brand bricks-and-mortar retail stores across the country. Additionally, "authorised resellers and select partner retailers" are set to stock the device, although precise details on potential resale and retail partners were not provided.

Also absent was information on the go-to-market strategy for the product beyond Microsoft's home country.

But sources indicate that partners were contacted today in a missive revealing that, for at least the rest of the 2015 calendar year, the vendor will be selling the device only in countries where it has physical Microsoft Stores.

The vast majority of those are in the US – although there are eight in Canada, and the vendor is shortly to open its first location outside North America, when a store in Sydney, Australia begins trading on 12 November.

Partners from the UK indicated that they had been told by Microsoft that the Surface Book would likely land in the country "between January and March". Furthermore, the vendor reportedly told resellers that it was yet to decide on a go-to-market strategy for this side of the Atlantic.

When contacted by CRN, a Microsoft representative confirmed that it is too early for the vendor to discuss details of its channel and wider sales plan for the Surface Book in Europe.

First launched three years ago, the Surface tablet has never been given more than a limited distribution through the channel. The device was sold only direct and through certain retailers for some months after its release, before a handful of VARs were finally, in 2013, given the necessary Authorised Device Reseller (ADR) status needed to sell the product.

As of this summer the worldwide total of ADRs stood at just 150. But, at its Worldwide Partner Conference in Orlando, Microsoft announced plans to rapidly grow this number to more than 4,500.

The UK was quick to see the results of that plan, with an additional 41 partners added to an existing roster of just 14. But it remains unclear whether the Surface Book will be handed to the entire existing ADR channel, to a more limited number of partners – or even to the wider Microsoft channel at large.

With models priced from $1,499 to $2,699 (c£980 to £1764), the Surface Book is now available for online pre-order in the US, with an estimated shipping date of 26 October or earlier. The product features a 13.5in touchscreen display and runs on Windows 10 with an Intel Core i5 processor. The vendor has claimed the product "redefines the laptop".