Last week, it was revealed that 11,000 Delta Airlines pilots will be using the Surface 2 tablet as a replacement for their large paper-filled notebooks. Today, Microsoft expanded on that announcement and also revealed that three companies will be providing special Surface accessories especially for the business market.
In a post on the official Surface blog, Microsoft says that the switch from the 38 pound flight notebook to the 1.5 pound Surface 2 tablet for Delta pilots will save the airline $13 million a year in fuel and related costs. Other companies who have bought large amounts of Surface tablets include Japan-based Hokkoku Bank, who bought 2,000 units of the original Surface Pro, and the The London School of Business and Finance, which acquired nearly 10,000 Surface RT tablets for use by their second year students.
Microsoft also announced that starting tomorrow, Oct. 1, Surface tablets will be available via commercial resellers in Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. This will bring the number of markets that sell the tablets from resellers to 29 around the world.
Microsoft has announced that AmourActive will provide both fixed and mobile point-of-sale accessories for the Surface family of tablets. Another company, Maroo, will offer third-party leather cases and stands, as shown above.
Finally, Anthro will sell Surface-based tablet charging carts, for businesses that buy lots of Surface products and need to charge many of them at once.
Source: Microsoft | Images via Microsoft