The $8,400 oversized tablet will be rolled out initially in 23 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.

The SUR40 is designed for use as a retail, hospitality and education system, and the 40in surface can support up to 50 simultaneous touch actions, and interaction with tag-equipped objects such as glassware or game pieces.

The companies believe that the SUR40 will eventually extend to areas such as banking, healthcare, manufacturing and financial services.

"This pre-order phase brings us one step closer to getting the highly anticipated Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface into the hands of our customers," said Samsung electronics vice president Charles Park.

"The Samsung SUR40 delivers a unique interactive experience that will significantly change the way companies engage with customers."

Microsoft introduced the Surface in 2007, when it was viewed as a possible breakthrough for the retail and service industries.

However, most consumers and businesses have taken to smaller touch-screen tablets, and analysts believe that the table-sized surface will prove far less versatile than its handheld counterparts.

"In a lot of ways it is a technology in search of an application," Directions on Microsoft lead platforms analyst Michael Cherry told V3.

"I never felt there was that big a need for the Surface. Nothing that I have wanted to do has required a table-sized computer."