Microsoft Expands Surface's International Channel Presence

Microsoft (MSFT) will expand its blueprint for Surface RT and Surface Pro tablet distribution to 17 countries outside the United States, funneling sales and support through a select set of channel partners, the company said.

Less than two months ago, Microsoft opened up sales of the Surface line through 10 large account resellers and three distributors. Now, according to Cyril Belikoff, Microsoft Surface marketing director, writing in a blog post, the vendor will make its Surface tablet lineup for commercial, education and public sector customers available in 17 new markets. It will kick off sales through channel partners in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the the United Kingdom, he said.

But there’s a catch. Channel partners in those countries are restricted to business-to-business, education and public sector sales of Surface products and are not authorized to sell the tablets to consumers or retailers, Belikoff said.

“Our plan has been to expand commercial distribution for Surface in a thoughtful way,” he wrote. “This expansion continues to be via a select ecosystem of established channel partners with the precise geographical reach, tablet selling experience and commercial value-added services capabilities to deliver the type of business experience our customers need.”

In addition to Surface sales, Microsoft expects its new international channel partners to support its warranty service provisions and supply a range of value-added services, including asset tagging, custom imaging, kitting, onsite service and support, device recycling and data protection, Belikoff said.

And, Microsoft will be adding authorized channel partners in these markets in the next few weeks. “We continue to be committed to bringing business channel availability to all markets where Surface is currently sold,” he wrote.

At its Worldwide Partner Conference last month, Microsoft said it would expand Surface distribution to 28 additional countries by the end of September. With Microsoft’s struggles to catalyze Surface RT sales in the United States, just how well the tablet will sell internationally is an open question at best.

Microsoft’s international channel expansion for Surface comes in tandem with reports that Nokia (NOK) is readying a new Surface RT-based tablet for debut late next month. The unit, code named Vanquish, will run on Qualcomm’s (QCOM) Snapdragon 800 processor, will include LTE support and will be available on AT&T’s (T) network, according to a published report.