Just ahead of its rumored Surface refresh announcement scheduled for early October, Microsoft is continuing to push its 3rd generation of Surface tablets into expanded markets. We reported earlier on Microsoft’s recent collaborative efforts that will see enterprise solution providing companies such as Dell and HP offering Surface Pro 3 devices to customers. Even earlier than that announcement was news of AT&T coming on board to sell the long-awaited Surface 3 with LTE option to customers on its network.
While AT&T has been selling the LTE-enabled Surface 3 for over a few weeks now, the telecommunications company just announced a new wrinkle in its Surface 3 promotion. In the coming weeks, AT&T will be selling the Microsoft Surface 3 with Windows 8.1 Pro to business customers. Further details state that while AT&T’s business versions of the Surface 3 are being sold with Windows 8.1 Pro, they can, and presumably will be upgraded to Windows 10. The business model Surface 3 being sold from AT&T is outfitted with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will sell at $649.99 with a two-year wireless ($37.50 monthly) agreement or $749.99 without. Potential customers should also note, AT&T clearly states that for those prices, “Accessories sold separately”.
It is a bit confusing that AT&T would sell out of the box, the arguably less than enterprise-friendly version of Windows to business customers when Windows 10 is readily available. I recently wrote a piece about how the Surface 3 is a more than capable enterprise solution in light of the recent Apple announcement of the iPad Pro. For businesses or educational sectors, the Surface 3 offers a lot of bang for its buck.
Further reading: Microsoft, Surface 3, Windows 10, Windows 8.1
