Solution Providers Tired of Waiting for Microsoft Surface Move to Alternative Tablets

Surface's distribution in the commercial market will be phased, according to Microsoft. However, a number of solution providers have commented that they are wary of waiting and are moving on to other tablet offerings.

A number of solution providers last week stated that they are providing competing tablets as a result of being unable to resell Microsoft's Surface and Surface Pro tablets.

The vice president of Wethersfield, Connecticut-based Compu-Tech, Jay Shah, said: "I don't think Surface is a deal breaker for us. There are plenty of good alternatives out there."

The owner of Wilbraham, Massachusetts-based Post Computer Systems, Aristeo Torres, said: "There are much better options than Surface. Samsung has wonderful tablets. Asus has a great tablet."

Torres added that, on the PC side, he is also partners with Lenovo and HP, and there are therefore a number of tablet options there as well. The hardware itself is not the main problem with Surface; rather, the potential of losing customers to retail will be the key issue.

Torres commented: "When a customer says they can get a product online or from Staples, I ask them who's going to take care of it. And it really boils down to that question: Who's going to take care of that device?"

The general manager of Peabody, Massachusetts-based Land Computer, Susan Trahant, stated that HP and Lenovo are also partners with her company on the client device side, and it will not wait for Microsoft to begin making its products available. Trahant said: "As a VAR, we're going to sell what's available to us and present the best solution to our customers."

In July, 10 large account reseller (LAR) partners were announced to have been authorized by Microsoft, and these will be able to sell Surface tablets through the new Microsoft Devices Program. The company added that this will be the first phase of a larger Surface rollout, before it expands the service to include more partners. However, many solution providers are not happy with this new strategy.

Ocean State Computers is a Providence, Rhode Island-based system builder whose president, Bob Gregory, commented: "I think it's pretty hypocritical [of Microsoft]. The bottom line is, whether there is a margin on it or not, we on some level represent Microsoft, and Surface is one more product that we'd be able to offer [to customers]." He added that customers have been in contact regarding Surface Pro, but those calls have been redirected to Microsoft and retail stores.

The president of Land Computer, Richard Trahant, noted that he is not surprised by Microsoft's Surface strategy, but the move does disappoint him.

Richard Trahant said: "All OEMs put certain products through the channel, and other ones through retail, and others through very specific, high-volume resellers. This is pretty typical, believe it or not. It may even be a trial for them. They don't want to unleash a product in the channel and have 150,000 resellers saying it's terrible. So I think [the Surface rollout] is almost a test." (CY) Link