Microsoft said on Friday that it will be bringing its range of Surface hardware devices to South Africa.
“It’s a question of when they’re coming, not if (they’re coming),” Microsoft South Africa MD Lillian Barnard told TechCentral in an interview in Johannesburg.
Though Barnard said it’s too early to say when they’ll be launched, she said there is a commitment to bring them to the country. That would seem to suggest a launch date of some time in 2020.
TechCentral has learnt in recent weeks that Microsoft has held a number of discussions with local hardware distributors about bringing the Surface line-up to South African business customers and retail consumers. Some or all of these discussions have only been exploratory at this stage, according to sources.
A South African launch of the Surface line-up is likely to coincide with a similar launch in other countries around the world. Microsoft is gradually expanding the number of countries where Surface products are officially available. They’re already broadly available in North America, Western Europe and Australasia.
New computers, smartphone
News of the plans to launch at least some products in the line-up in South Africa comes just a week after the company announced a raft of new devices, including two dual-screen products — a computer, Neo, and, for the first time, an Android-powered smartphone called Duo.
The Neo device will be powered by a version of the Windows operating system known as Windows 10X, designed to run multiple apps side by side. Both the Neo and the Duo smartphone are only expected to be launched commercially towards the end of 2020.
The company also announced Surface Earbuds, in-ear wireless earphones, as well as the two-in-one laptop the Surface Pro 7 and the high-end ProX model plus the third generation of the Surface Laptop.
It’s unknown which of these devices, however, will make it to South African shores. — © 2019 NewsCentral Media