Those living in the UK and Europe have been waiting a long time for Microsoft to finally reveal when the Surface Pro would be landing on their shores. They won't have to wait much longer, as the release date and price have finally been revealed, but at this point you have to wonder: How much will they care?
On Thursday, Microsoft announced that the Surface Pro would be officially available in the UK on May 23. The 64GB version of the tablet will cost £719 ($1094), while the 128GB Surface Pro will retail for £799 ($1216).
In addition to the UK, release dates and prices were revealed for a number of other European countries as well. In Germany, the 64GB Surface Pro will sell for €879 and the 128GB model will go for €979. According to ZDNet, Germany will be seeing the Surface Pro about a week later than the UK, on May 31.
Meanwhile, the tablet will land in Sweden, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Australia by the end of the month. Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand will see the device in June.
Now that we know when the Surface Pro will arrive, the question is whether or not it's too late for the tablet to gain any traction. While the Surface Pro was released in the United States in February, it was actually revealed back in June 2012. By the time Microsoft releases this tablet in the UK and other countries, it will already be gearing up to showcase Windows 8.1 Blue and the next wave of Surface tablets at June's Build conference.
Sure, Windows 8.1 Blue will be a free upgrade, meaning any Surface owner will be able to download it regardless of which generation their hardware is from, but knowing that better, more impressive hardware is about to show up (and with 7-inch tablets on the way, it might be in a form factor you prefer) has got to make you think twice about spending a premium on older hardware. Especially for those living in countries getting the device in June, there's a chance Microsoft will have already unveiled the Surface Pro 2 before the original one even goes on sale.
Of course, deciding to wait may also have its disadvantages. After all, if it took this long to get the Surface Pro out in Europe, it may take just as long to release next-gen tablets.
