HP And Dell Give Microsoft An Enterprise Assist With Surface Pro
Two years removed from taking a $900 million write-off related to unsold Surface RT tablets, Microsoft is tapping OEMs to sell its Surface Pro line. Specifically, Dell and Hewlett-Packard will carry Surface Pro tablets as part of Microsoft's new Surface Enterprise Initiative.
Dell will be the first to start selling Surface Pro tablets with Windows 10 and Surface Pro accessories. Sales will kick off next month in the United States and Canada through Dell's North America commercial sales organization and later in the year through its website. This will expand to 28 other markets in early 2016.
"Business customers will be able to buy Surface Pro from Dell, the same way they buy our Venue Pro tablets and Latitude 2-in-1s and laptops, configure, deploy and support them throughout their organization the same way," Dell stated in a blog post. "Now customers have a 'one stop shop' to get the very best Windows devices in the market backed by award-winning Dell Support and Configuration & Deployment Services."
Dell will back Surface Pro sales with a one-year warranty. Customers have the option of extending it to four years. They can also upgrade to ProSupport or ProSupport with accidental damage protection.
It's an interesting move in part because Dell already sells Surface-like products such as the Venue 11 Pro 5000. There's also the Inspiron 13 7000, a 2-in-1 PC that allows the screen to fold all the way back.
HP will also sell Surface Pro tablets at some point, though no date has been set.
Dell will be the first to start selling Surface Pro tablets with Windows 10 and Surface Pro accessories. Sales will kick off next month in the United States and Canada through Dell's North America commercial sales organization and later in the year through its website. This will expand to 28 other markets in early 2016.
"Business customers will be able to buy Surface Pro from Dell, the same way they buy our Venue Pro tablets and Latitude 2-in-1s and laptops, configure, deploy and support them throughout their organization the same way," Dell stated in a blog post. "Now customers have a 'one stop shop' to get the very best Windows devices in the market backed by award-winning Dell Support and Configuration & Deployment Services."
Dell will back Surface Pro sales with a one-year warranty. Customers have the option of extending it to four years. They can also upgrade to ProSupport or ProSupport with accidental damage protection.
It's an interesting move in part because Dell already sells Surface-like products such as the Venue 11 Pro 5000. There's also the Inspiron 13 7000, a 2-in-1 PC that allows the screen to fold all the way back.
HP will also sell Surface Pro tablets at some point, though no date has been set.
