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For Business
October 9, 2014

Surface Pro 3 is for Business Especially

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Surface Pro 3 is off to a strong start with both individuals and businesses. We understand why: it is a great device for fun but also great for getting things done. Recently, we’ve received a lot of interest (and questions) from businesses about how Surface Pro 3 will work for them and what Microsoft’s longer-term commitment to Surface is in businesses of all sizes. We are here to address those questions and to share a Surface Pro 3 offer tailored for business customers.

Surface Pro 3: built for work

Most businesses are buying Surface when their employees need a laptop and want to avoid having to buy and carry an iPad too. Surface Pro 3 serves as a full-powered business PC and a tablet, making for happy employees as well as happy CIOs and CFOs. One device means less to buy, deploy, manage and secure. Surface Pro 3 is for work. We built it that way. For schoolwork, for creative work, for sales work, for CAD and engineering work, and for work while traveling between offices or continents. Wherever you are, you have a powerful, light, single device that can do nearly everything you need. Surface Pro 3 can replace your laptop and be a tablet.

The early customers we’ve announced including BMW, Coca Cola, Louis Vuitton, University of Pittsburg Medical Center, Avanade, Cincinnati Country Day School and more—are good examples of this trend. In addition to these customers we announced previously, we have some exciting new customers like the Lotus F1 Team who chose Surface Pro 3 in their market even before availability.

The Lotus F1 Team had been piloting previous versions of the Surface Pro line, and recently made the commitment to move forward with Surface Pro 3 as a laptop replacement option across their organization.

Michael Taylor, Director of Information Technology and Information Systems with the Lotus F1 Team with his Surface Pro 3
Michael Taylor, Director of Information Technology and Information Systems with the Lotus F1 Team with his Surface Pro 3

Asked about what factors were significant in making this decision, Michael Taylor, Director of Information Technology and Information Systems with the Lotus F1 Team said, “For me, one of the most important factors of owning a tablet in the Enterprise is device consolidation – although a techy at heart and with a passion for playing with new devices, when I put my Enterprise IT Leader hat on, device consolidation is key, I want to be able to give my users the same levels of engagement and experience they currently have whilst saving a device or two along the way.”

“Working in the fast paced world of F1,” Taylor adds, “international travel is an occupational hazard, and being able to work in multiple locations including planes, trains and automobiles comes as standard. The Surface Pro 3 achieves this objective with ease.” Check out the Microsoft UK blog for more background about the Lotus F1 team and why Surface Pro 3 was the right choice for them to replace laptops in their organization.

As you can see, momentum is building quickly and we are proud to take the focus on work and businesses to the next level.

Improved business support and upgrades to Windows 10

While we built Surface Pro 3 with individuals in mind, we also designed it to work for businesses, large and small. That means ensuring that Surface Pro 3 continues to be equipped with the latest security and manageability capabilities that companies expect from Microsoft. This is core to Microsoft – particularly to Windows and Office – and it’s also core to Surface. We are excited about the growing commercial adoption of Surface.

An important part of that is keeping things easy for IT departments to support Surface Pro 3 – and we’re committed to doing that. Here’s how:

And it probably goes without saying, but Surface Pro 3 will continue to support Windows 8.1 AND of course be upgrade-able when Windows 10 is released.

Removing more barriers for adopting Surface

We recognize there are requirements for many customers to be able to use Surface Pro 3. Two weeks ago we were proud to announce Surface Pro 3 qualified for FAA and EASA authorization. Today we’re pleased to announce that Surface Pro 3 now qualifies for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program for computers. We have more qualifications we expect to announce soon.

More consistency with accessories

We understand that for businesses to invest in Surface Pro 3, they need clarity on our commitment to hardware and accessories over time, so they can responsibly manage their investment choices. We have kept our roadmap plans close to the vest, as we needed to properly land new Surface products in a competitive market. But we’ve always said that we have a roadmap of products. Of course we’ll have to wait and see about what those products may look like or when they might come to markets. But now that we have begun to establish our place in the market, we are pleased to share that the following Surface Pro 3 accessories are designed with our product roadmap in mind and will be compatible with the next generation of the “Pro” line of Surface:

  • Today’s Surface Pro 3 Type Covers
  • Our “infrastructure” accessories such as our power adapter, Ethernet adapter, and more
  • The Surface Pro 3 Docking Station

This commitment helps validate an investment in Surface Pro 3 and solidifies Microsoft’s overall commitment to the continued growth of the Surface brand.

New “Laptop Replacement Offer” for business customers brings value, speeds deployment

We want businesses, educational institutions and government organizations to be able to buy Surface devices the way that best serves their needs. For some, this means being able to just go pick up a new Surface at a Surface authorized retail store, while for others, it means purchasing from a business-oriented reseller – like the numerous Authorized Resellers we have in 30 markets where Surface Pro 3 is commercially available. These Microsoft authorized Surface partners offer unique value-added services for businesses like: asset tagging, device imaging, kitting and financing.

Regardless of where businesses are purchasing Surface Pro 3 devices, it’s common that they are also buying the Surface Pro Type Cover and more than 50% of our commercial sales include a Surface Pro 3 Docking Station. To make it faster and more cost effective for business customers to deploy Surface Pro 3, we’re introducing a limited-time Surface Laptop Replacement Bundle with our reseller partners that provides up to $150 off of a Surface Pro 3, Type Cover and Docking Station when purchased together. This is available through our Authorized Resellers in the US starting immediately, and in the majority of markets where Surface is available worldwide in the coming weeks, while supplies last. Particularly, we expect small and medium businesses to see tremendous value in this offer.

Businesses can buy with confidence. We are here to stay.

At Microsoft, we believe in the future of mobile computing, and with Surface, we have brought a unique perspective to market that meets the needs of many mobile professionals, businesses, educational institutions and government organizations.

“We believe a strength of the Microsoft platform for enterprise is the rich ecosystem of hardware and applications developed by our partners, the community at large, and some of our own teams at Microsoft. In particular with Microsoft Surface Pro 3 we are now offering an enterprise-class device that can deliver great end user productivity. Microsoft is putting its full and sustained support behind the ongoing Surface program as one of a number of great hardware choices for businesses large and small.” – Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

Surface Pro 3 is built for work. We hope this post has addressed questions from the business community and we are excited to see how Surface’s presence in the commercial space keeps growing. Thank you for continued feedback and support.

Brian Hall – General Manager, Surface