Microsoft is partnering with the likes of Dell and Hewlett-Packard to sell Microsoft's Surface Pro tablets to businesses.
As part of the new agreement, Dell will be using its sales team to sell the Surface Pro and accessories starting in October. At some point, businesses will be able to buy the Surface Pro from the Dell website.
The news comes as tablet sales have begun seriously declining, with Apple even feeling the pressure to try and boost iPad sales. Despite this decline, however, Microsoft has seen Surface Pro sales grow in the last quarter.
The main idea with Microsoft's new deals is that it is aiming to cater, on a larger level, to corporate customers.
"We have had very large customers saying for you to be a standard for our employees, in the thousands and thousands of devices, we need you to have these capabilities," said Brian Hall, Microsoft's general manager of the Surface product line. "They kept saying you are going to have to have support and services capabilities like Dell."
Microsoft, of course, isn't the only company making partnerships to sell its tablets. In August, Apple partnered with Cisco to begin selling the iPad to business customers. Not only that, but the company has also partnered with IBM to begin creating apps for business.
Details about Hewlett-Packard's involvement with Microsoft have not yet been released, however, it seems as though it may have a similar role as Dell.
The news comes right before Apple is rumored to be announcing a larger, 12-inch tablet called the iPad Pro. The device will largely be aimed at businesses and media professionals, and it may have an optional stylus and keyboard to make it a better fit for business users.
Via: Fortune
