Microsoft Shows It Can Get Buyers to Line Up, Too

Shoppers line up outside the Microsoft Store at Westfield Valley Fair shopping center in Santa Clara, Calif., Oct. 26 to buy the Microsoft Surface tablet running Windows 8, which also went on sale the same day. Apple has been known for creating such demand for its products that people line up for each new iPad or iPhone.

Microsoft product specialists (in the blue T-shirts) give customers tutorials on the new Surface tablet computer. The Surface runs Windows 8 RT, which features a new tiled user interface (UI) that is familiar to people with Windows Phone 7 smartphones, but is unfamiliar to those used to the traditional Windows UI.

Customers wait in line for the new Surface tablet computer at the Microsoft Store in Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., in close proximity to the Apple store. People were waiting in line at the Apple store to order the iPhone 5, which went on sale Sept. 21.

Carlo De Los Santos, of Union City, Calif., waited in line for about an hour to buy a Microsoft Surface tablet computer at the Microsoft Store in nearby Santa Clara. He already has a Windows Phone 7 smartphone with the same user interface as the Windows 8 operating system on Surface.

A Microsoft product specialist demonstrates the new Surface tablet to customers waiting in line to buy one, the first day the tablets and the Windows 8 operating they run went on sale. The Surface starting price is $499, but several customers paid extra for the Touch Cover, which doubles as a cover for the tablet’s screen and as an external keyboard.

Customers get to know the new Microsoft Surface tablet at the Microsoft Store in the Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif. This store has been here for a while, but Microsoft opened 30 new temporary stores across the country on Oct. 26 for the holiday season.

Displays inside the Microsoft Store in Santa Clara, Calif., illustrate the new tiled user interface of the Windows 8 operating system that went on sale the same day as the new Surface Tablet computer.

Steven Hansen (right), of Campbell, Calif. is seen with a smiling store clerk as he departs with his new Microsoft Surface tablet computer. The Microsoft Store here had lines of people waiting for the store to open to buy a Surface or pick up one they had pre-ordered.

The Microsoft Store at Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., was busy with shoppers eager to get their hands on the new Surface tablet running the new Windows 8 operating system. The store also featured other laptops and tablets with Windows 8 pre-installed.

Jeff Davis of Sunnyvale, Calif., was one of the first to buy a Microsoft Surface tablet running Windows 8 when they went on sale. “I like the design of it. I like the hardware and Windows runs pretty well on it,” Davis said. He paid extra for a model with the Touch Cover, which doubles as a screen cover and an external keyboard.