Here’s a few stories that might be of interest to Surface users which popped up in the past week or so…
- Microsoft Build 2015 Conference
- 2,000 Bing Points for Surface 3 Pre-Order
- Windows 10 Build 10074 Available
- New UK Reseller Channels For Surface
- Surface Market Share
- New Surface 3 Ad
- And, of course, there are new Surface Pro 4 Rumors as well
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: Build 2015 Conference
As you might have heard, Microsoft held (and is actually still going on) the Build 2015 conference this week and there was a lot of new information about Microsoft Edge (formerly Spartan), Cortana, Hololens, Continuum, and even a new version of Visual Studio to make it easier to port Android and Apple apps to Windows.
However, contrary to some earlier rumors, there has been NO announcement about the Surface Pro 4 release.
Well, at least there hasn’t been as of yet but there is still one day to go in the conference. However, you would expect for Microsoft to lead off with it, if it was going to happen, right?
Personally, I’m really thinking we’re looking at a late summer/fall launch for the SP4 but that’s just what I would do to capture some of the “back to school” market.
Sources: Channel 9, Digital Trends, PC Pro
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: 2,000 Bing Points
If you happen to be a Surface 3. In case you’re wondering what 2,000 Bing points is worth…. it’s about $20 USD in gift cards.
Not enough to convince many people to buy a Surface 3 but, it might be enough to get folks to join Surface 3 already.
Sources: Digital Trends, Windows Central
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: Windows 10 Build 10074
Microsoft released a new version of the Windows 10 Technical preview (10074) and it is much more complete than the previous versions including more support for the auto-scaling Continuum feature.
In addition, there’s a little more information (or speculation?) on how Windows 10 will launch. If you’re inclined to try it on your Surface, you can download it by being a part of the Windows Insider program.
Sources: Anandtech, Blogging Windows, PC World
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: New UK Channels for Surface
If you’re a Surface fan in the UK, I have some good news for you. Microsoft added 5 new resellers (technically 6 but 1 is leaving the program so…) to its Authorized Device Reseller programme.
This means that any shortages you may have experienced with past new Surface model releases *should* be mitigated a bit by having more available.
Source: Channelweb
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: Surface Market Share
It looks like the declining sales of consumer-level tablets (like iPads) are not affecting the more powerful business-level Windows tablets (including Surfaces).
This ongoing decline may actually help Windows tablets (with the Surface leading the way) take over more of the tablet market share in the near future.
Sources: TechRadar, PR Newswire
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: New Surface 3 Ad
Microsoft released a new ad featuring the Surface 3. You can see it above.
Surface News Roundup – 5/1/15: Surface Pro 4 Rumors
And finally, we have the (almost compulsory) Surface Pro 4 tech-spec and release date rumors for you to peruse and pick apart….
Personally, as I already said, I don’t think there is any chance of a Surface Pro 4 announcement on the heels of the Surface 3. Let’s face it, the Surface 3 is not even being shipped yet; so even though some of us may be disappointed, I seriously doubt we’ll see the new SP4 before August and may be even later.
Sources: Yibada, Rapid News Network, PCPro, WCCF Tech, Trusted Reviews
That’s it for this week, I’ll have more Surface related news next week.
Tim
