Australian retailer JB Hi FI to start selling the Microsoft Surface before Christmas

Smarthouse.com.au reports that Australian retailers will soon start selling the Microsoft Surface, with JB Hi Fi confident that they will have stock in store before Christmas. Harvey Norman is also expected to carry the Windows RT tablet.

Scott Browning, the Marketing Director of JB Hi Fi, said "We have been talking to Microsoft for some time about selling their Surface tablet. It’s now a question of stock levels and whether we can get the device into stores prior to Christmas."

Browning said "This is a product that needs to be exposed to a consumer; they need to touch and feel it and only retail stores can do this. Online is a commodity sell and if a consumer does not know the product or has not seen it in store it is always going to be harder to sell online".

Smarthouse reports OEMs are not too happy with the move.

One Windows partner apparently said today "We said initially the Surface would not sell online. Now they are moving into retail stores in a move that could hurt sales of our own Android based and Windows based tablet PCs".

While we do not know how well the Surface is selling, we are sure it will sell a lot better if consumers are able to lay hands on the tablet before shelling out what is quite a bit of money.  Hopefully expanding availability will mean sales will also improve significantly.