There is certainly a group of people who think the Microsoft Surface could be the iPad killer that so many people have been looking forward to. The Surface is just different enough to give them a reason to purchase it, and just similar enough that it isn’t the kind of device users will have to learn all over again.

For those hoping the Surface could indeed be the bane of Apple’s (News - Alert) tablet, it appears some positive signs have popped up thanks to a report that the 32GB version of the tablet has completely sold out in the United Kingdom – just a week after it was made available for pre-order.

Specifically, the 32GB version of the Microsoft (News - Alert) Surface without a cover is listed on the Microsoft UK website as being temporarily unavailable. There is no current data available for just how many of the tablets were made available for pre-order, and no one seems to know exactly how when more of that particular model will be available again. 

It’s probably no coincidence that the cheapest version of the Microsoft Surface happens to be the 32GB tablet, without the cover, with a price tag (News - Alert) of around $480. The same size tablet with the actual touch cover will retail for about $764.

The most expensive version of the tablet, the 64GB version with the touch cover, carries a price of about $895 in the United Kingdom.

There is actually some debate among industry insiders as to why this particular version of the tablet sold out first. Some people believe the touch pad keyboard is a bit superfluous. The fact that the version sold out was the one that didn’t have the cover, and was the cheapest, means it’s hard to tell exactly what the driving factor of the sales were.