“People with knowledge of the company’s sales” have told Bloomberg that Microsoft has only sold about 1.5 million Surface tablets since the Windows 8 device’s October launch. Of these sales, the cheaper Surface RT accounts for over 1 million, and the fancier, more expensive Surface Pro, which only released last month, has already shifted 400,000 units.

It doesn’t sound too bad, but the multiple anonymous sources said Microsoft manufactured 3 million Surface RT units, and analysts had expected Microsoft to sell over 2 million in just three months. Microsoft apparently declined opportunities to comment on the figures.

It’s a bit of a blow for Microsoft; the Surface tablets extend the Windows 8 operating system to touchscreen devices, which is kind of the point of all that tiling you complain so rigorously about, and rival Apple shifted 22.9 million iPads in the Surface’s debut quarter. Still, it’s early days, and the Pro’s rapid catch up may bode well for the more powerful version’s chances.

Source: Bloomberg

We’ve already told you that Windows 8 will be launching on October 26, but do you know what else will be launching that day? It’s Microsoft’s new tablet, the Surface. This release date though is only for the light-weight version of the tablet, not the version that will ship with Windows 8 Pro – which will be launching 90 days later.

Source: VentureBeat