Australia Tax Surfaces – Microsoft Surface Australian release
Posted Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 10:04 am by 
After initially launching in April 2008, Microsoft’s multi-touch table, the Surface, has had a pretty quiet life to date. Here in Australia, there’d only been a couple of companies that’d gone to the expense of importing it. Today Microsoft are officially launching Microsoft Surface in Australia, with one very different spec – price.
I don’t remember a larger gap in the US-AUS price translation than this. In the US the retail Surface sells for US$12,500, yet somehow that number grew with a serious Australia-tax to A$21,000. We’re still waiting for a response form Microsoft to justify the dramatic difference in price.
Update
A Microsoft spokesperson says the Microsoft Surface price is a result of getting a new product into a new market. Sighting support, operational costs, certification and regulatory requirements as the reasons for the Australian cost.
If your in the development market, you’ll need to hand over A$24,000, compared to $US15,000 in the states. While the size and weight of this device would make for expensive shipping, it’s possible that importing from the US could be cheaper.. this is ridiculous.
We’re two and half years on since it’s release, components should be cheaper now, unfortunately this hasn’t correlated to the Australian prices. If this is another example of pricing technology based on what they think ‘the market will bear’, then they’re clearly wrong.
Surface is an amazing device, if it was offered at a sub-$10k price, thousands of business may be enticed to get one. But at the current price point, you’ll probably have to visit a casino to see one.
Watch the latest updates on the launch on twitter.
