PC vendors who sell their tablets via Harvey Norman and JB HI Fi are up in arms after it was revealed that Microsoft is handing out “bucket loads” of cash to retail sales staff selling their Surface tablets.
Brands such as Samsung, Toshiba, Asus, Acer and even Apple have seen sales of their tablets fall at the two retailer after Microsoft started paying sales staff a $50 incentive payment for the sale of a Surface tablet and $20 for the sale of a Surface keyboard.
At both retailers Microsoft has struggled to keep up supplies as sales staff recommend a Windows based tablet over an Android or iOS based tablet from Apple.
A senior executive for from a major supplier of Android based tablets said “It’s hard to get a sales person to recommend an Android product when they can sell a premium priced Windows based tablet and get a handful of cash in the process”.
“Some of these sales staff are walking away each week with massive bonuses, this is not good for the industry”.
Richard Murray the CEO of JB Hi Fi said “Yes it’s happening, it’s just another business model, and other vendors have had the same opportunity”.
Another vendor said “They had to do something, Microsoft has not actually setting the world on fire with their tablet offering and when a tablet is not selling one has to come up with a good idea to shift stock this one seems to be working”.
Shortly Microsoft will launch their Surface Pro 3 with a 12″ screen, with several other vendors tipped to launch similar products.
A hybrid device that combines tablet and notebook functionality into one device and when opened users get access to the latest Intel technology, the device is lighter than the MacBook Air and is tipped to be a real threat with traditional notebook users being urged to upgrade to the new device.
It will be capable of running up to four million Windows apps that are available for the Windows platform.
User can detach the screen which is attached to the base screen via a magnetic catch.
It comes with 512 gigabytes of storage which is significantly more than what Android vendors or Apple are offering.
An attached Surface Pen enables users to mark up presentations, sign documents, sketch and jot simple notes on the screen.
Microsoft is looking to sell three million Surface Pro 3s into the B2B and enterprise markets, the device will be launched in Australia on August 31 (you can “pre-order” now on the Microsoft website) prices will range from $979 for a 64GB unit with an Intel i3 processor to $2279 for a model with 512GB of storage and a more powerful i7 chip.
