Microsoft starts taking pre-sale orders for Surface in Australia, matches Apple iPad in price, Google Nexus 7 in production numbers

Microsoft has unveiled new details about its Windows RT-based consumer Surface tablet, revealing the company is planning to match the Apple iPad in price and Google’s Nexus 7 tablet in production numbers.

Microsoft has listed the device for presale in eight countries, including Australia, announcing similar pricing to Apple’s competing iPad.

The 10.6-inch consumer Surface RT tablet will sell for $559 ($US499) for the 32GB version without a Touch Cover, $679 ($US599) for the 32GB version with the Touch Cover and $789 ($US699) for the 64GB model for with a Touch Cover.

Australia will be one of the first eight countries to receive the device, alongside the US, UK, Germany, France and Canada.

According to The Verge, Microsoft has placed orders to produce between three and five million of its new tablets in the fourth quarter of this year.

The production figures are similar to the 3-5 million device production runs that both Google’s Nexus 7 tablet and Amazon’s Kindle Fire will run during the same period, suggesting Microsoft expects sales of the device to be similar to those of the leading Android tablets.

In contrast, Apple is expected to have a 10 million device production run for its yet to be announced 7-inch iPad and is estimated to have sold 17 million iPads during the previous quarter.