The after-sales services of the Microsoft Surface tablets have garnered criticism from Chinese media.
China's state-owned radio is detailing how the Surface with Windows 8 Pro has to follow the country's law on having a one-year warranty for the whole device and a two-year warranty for main parts. The law is enacted for all netbook computers.
China National Radio, the broadcaster acknowledging Microsoft's fault, is following a similar move China Central Television did against Apple.
"[The situation] sounds potentially worrisome; it looks a copycat of the whole Apple thing," said Doug Young, author of "The Party Line: How the Media Dictates Public Opinion in Modern China, via Bloomberg. China National Radio "is trying to jump on the same bandwagon."
Microsoft's Beijing-based spokesperson Joanna Li said she couldn't provide a comment at the moment.
The case against Apple seemed to have settled following CEO Tim Cook issuing an apology to Chinese consumers on April 2.
Microsoft started selling the Surface with Windows RT tablets in China last October, but sales are reportedly weak with only 90,000 units shipped during the last quarter of 2012.
The Surface with Windows 8 Pro started to venture into China earlier this month. The Surface tablet is different in China as it features a special edition Office Home and Student 2013 software, and it'll be under the Windows 8 Standard and not the Windows 8 Pro variant of the tablet. According to PC World, the use of Windows 8 OS instead of Windows 8 Pro is due to the simplified Chinese language.
The Surface China Edition, just as the Surface with Windows 8 Pro, is available in 64GB and 128GB versions for 6588 yuan and 7388 yuan, respectively. When converted to the U.S. dollar, the tablets cost $1,050 for the 64GB variant and $1,178 for the 128GB model.
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