Microsoft 128GB Surface Pro Sells Out At MS Online Store

Microsoft’s $999 128GB Surface Pro went on sale February 9, and, just hours later, it was sold out.

The Surface Pro 64GB version is still available, and the tablet appears to still be in stock at Best Buy brick and mortar stores and other physical retail locations.

With the first Microsoft created tablet to run on a full version of Windows 8, Microsoft hopes the device can turn around poor sales compared to its Windows RT tablet.

The Intel-powered device has sold out in the United States but is showing available via the Microsoft Store online in Canada.

WiniBeta notes that supply issues could have led to the sell out:

“According to a recent report from Digitimes, Microsoft was only planning on having an initial shipment volume of one million Surface Pro units. This is obviously less than what Microsoft planning with the Surface RT, which had an initial shipment volume of four million units. Could this be a factor in why the Surface Pro is already being sold out?”

While one million units might sound impressive, ZDNet notes that all of those devices may not have been ready at launch:

“I received e-mails from a few readers who made treks to their local stores on Saturday morning only to discover stores received a handful, or in some cases, just one 128 GB Surface Pro. Some stores still have 64 GB Surface Pros on hand as of February 10. Users can’t order these devices online via the Microsoft Store, Best Buy or Staples sites because they are “sold out.””

The team atSource attempts to break down the likely number of available Surface Pro devices based on physical locations:

“There are 1050 Best Buy stores in the US, there are 1575 Staples stores, Staples seems to have received an average of 2-4 unit and best buy 6-8

“If you do the math the max number of retail units you had available at launch was: 15000.”

The Surface Pro 128GB selling out online faster than in stores would likely be the fact that first adopters tend to spend more time ordering products online.

In the meantime, numbers will likely remaining a guessing game, at least through the end of Q1 2013.

With better reviews for the Surface Pro compared to the Surface RT, the biggest question will be whether or not Microsoft can convince buyers to spend upwards of $1000 on a Windows 8-based tablet.