Microsoft Launches Online Store in China, Ready to Ship Surface Tablets

China is not short of online shopping options – and now there’s one more, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) today unveiling an official online store for Chinese fans of Windows products. The Microsoft Store for China is now live (see here) and has also put an official local price on the upcoming Surface tablet line-up, which can be booked right now.

The 32GB Windows RT Surface tablet with no smart keyboard cover starts at 3688 RMB (US$586), goes up to 4488 RMB ($713) with the cover, or the 64GB model is 5,288 RMB ($841). There’s no 16GB version because, as Daring Fireball points out, Windows RT is still a lot heftier than iOS.

The new Microsoft Store for China also sells a bunch of Microsoft Office packages – but, for the moment, nothing else. Yes, there’s no sign yet of pre-ordering Windows 8. That’s in contrast to most other official MS stores around the world, which also sell versions of Windows, Xboxes, and various accessories.

The Chinese tech blog WPDang points out that the new China online store brings brings Microsoft’s total of such e-commerce sites up to 230 markets around the world.

[Source: WPDang – article in Chinese]