Speaking at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference this week, Tami Reller, VP of Microsoft, explained that the Windows 8 release date was set for late October and the RTM (release to manufacturer) date was penned in for the first week of August.

Microsoft had hinted that it would look to release Windows 8 in October, but this is the first time the company has given any sort of confirmation.

Tablet Time

Reller also revealed that Microsoft has sold 630 million Windows 7 licenses to date, which is a 30 million uplift in sales from the company’s previous announcement in June.

There was also some talk of Microsoft Surface, but nothing concrete on the tablet’s release date.

Interestingly, Steve Ballmer did say that Surface was only a small part of Microsoft’s tablet strategy – and that the company will be relying on partners to release tablets with Windows 8 inside. The biggest rumour so far is that Samsung will be one of the first to release a Windows 8 RT tablet.

Price-wise, it is thought Microsoft Surface will be comparable to other ARM-based tablets.