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Microsoft Stores Are Permanently Closing
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That was one of the initial reasons for the store. Places like BB sell whatever PC’s they make the most money. Since MS makes the same money from windows if the PC is crap or great no one really cared. A small group within the company thought if MS could feature the best PC’s (from a design and innovation perspective) MS could foster some of the consumer passion that Apple customers seem to have for Apple products. This was tied into not just Windows PC’s but the coming (at that time) Windows phones. Once Windows phone was a flop the clock started ticking on the stores. Their days were numbered. Even though they sold some of the best PC’s you could experience in person it really had not translated to more sales.
Satya Nadella hatred for stores, phones, and anything not related to the cloud didn’t help. Pour one out for MS Store. It was a nice try.
That’s too bad. The MS store I visited was actually fun and interesting even though I am in the Apple camp. You could actually try and see some if the cooler Razer and Dell computers plus some other interesting gadgets. Seeing them in person is such a better experience than seeing it only online.
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Is it just me or does MS fail at a lot of projects? The Zune, the Windows phone. MS retail stores. Sometimes I think they give up too easily, but I’m not privy to the details. I would have liked them to succeed with the phone as an alternative to iOS and Android.
I will say though the Surface is a cool concept.
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Is it just me or does MS fail at a lot of projects? The Zune, the Windows phone. MS retail stores. Sometimes I think they give up too easily, but I’m not privy to the details. I would have liked them to succeed with the phone as an alternative to iOS and Android.
I will say though the Surface is a cool concept.
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This is incredibly sad. Unlike the current Apple Stores, these stores were always fun and inviting to go into. The people at the Answers Desk (their Genius Bar equivalent) were always super helpful. Massive bummer.
The Microsoft Stores were pretty nice, great place to get laptops without bloatware and demo some of the newer products, along with getting service with my Surface devices. That said service at Best Buy has been getting much better, I usually buy from Best Buy or MicroCenter now.
Dude, don’t be so hard on yourself! Dorks rule!
Both google and Microsoft have a history of just releasing every “neat” idea, seeing if any of them gain traction, and dumping the rest.
It’s certainly one way to go. Of course, that means you shouldn’t fall in love with any given product or project, because when it goes away you may be screwed.
Microsoft has been moving away from this and closer to apple’s “curation” model, which may explain why they have been gaining some love lately.
The last time I was in there, the cashier had an Apple Watch on. 
Was the only person in there the first time I went in, but got better as time went on. So now in the nearest malls to me, there is no GameStop, Apple Store, or Microsoft Store, you would have to go into the AT&T/T-Mobile stores for some of that stuff now.
Was the only person in there the first time I went in, but got better as time went on. So now in the nearest malls to me, there is no GameStop, Apple Store, or Microsoft Store, you would have to go into the AT&T/T-Mobile stores for some of that stuff now.The slate/tablet/laptop hybrid device form for Windows devices. Satya Nadella realized that Microsoft lost the race to control the operating system for the next generation of personal computing devices (i.e. Smartphones). So he is creating a new device form with the Surface.
The last time I was in there, the cashier had an Apple Watch on.
We are thinking about where we will move someday when we no longer have to work, given that Silicon Valley is so expensive. But a metric is “there has to be at least one apple store within 15 minutes.” Not even so much for access to apple’s store, but because where there is an apple store there also seem to be other kinds of stores, restaurants, etc. that we like. I travel a lot and find that’s been the case.
We’re spoiled - I’m within a half hour drive of at least 5 (including the one at apple’s HQ).
The last time I was in there, the cashier had an Apple Watch on.
Well, seeing as Microsoft doesn't currently make a watch or phone, I'm not sure how that would have been a conflict of interest
Hmm, not really enough to emulate Apple.
apparently not, nope.
I went into a couple stores with my laptop in 2012 expecting them to actually be able to offer assistance. Nope. Apparently the stores were designed to look like Apple on the surface, but at the time they didn't sell anything and could not offer much more than a look around.
Well, seeing as Microsoft doesn't currently make a watch or phone, I'm not sure how that would have been a conflict of interest
Ironically, they did in fact make phones (e.g., Windows Phone, Windows CE, etc.), watches (w. Timex), and even a sport band for a short while but ultimately pulled out of all of them.
Between execution, delivery, and even maintenance, Microsoft hasn't really changed at all that much, even since the anti-trust days.
When Jobs was quoted that MS "has no taste," I don't think even he could fathom how deep the root of that musing really went.
That's why I said "currently" - knew about the phones - didn't know about the watches, though.
They could receive notifications, if i remember correctly. I thought they were neat at the time.
I remember when Steve Jobs criticized Microsoft as having "no taste." I think that one really hurt. It was at a time when Windows was pretty ubiquitous and stable, and was even encroaching into Apple's share of "creative" computer users. But Apple had a much more elite and upscale brand image. They were smaller, but were more loved and had bigger profit margins.
Microsoft is a much larger company in terms of scope than Apple. They have much more money invested in enterprise technology. NTFS is great. The .wma codec was (and is?) an excellent music codec. But they wrapped it up in a fail-watch product like the Zune, which had better music fidelity than the iPod's default settings, yet they couldn't put it in a compelling package (brown?) that worked with what people had. (XBox music? What even the Hell is that? Groove Music? GFY.)
C#/.Net and Azure are baller. But every baller move at Microsoft was checked by a Ballmer one. They kept following up a success with failure. Vista was the best sales-model for Macs (and Linux Mint) yet devised. Then they followed it up with Windows 7, which was perfection of the Windows model. But shoving Windows8 touch tyrrany on my 70 year-old Dad trying to check his email made people curse Microsoft.
I think Microsoft has been troubled by the fact that a company that large has had to balance all these different units. They put marketing and Big Enterprise over design and interface for a long time. And it showed. It's a much bigger, more expensive, and labor intensive task to make Windows work correctly to be able run on any OEM's jumble of hardware, Apple got to choose their hardware and engineer precisely for that. And Jobs twisted that knife, pointing out that Microsoft was in a perpetual "race to the bottom" with their OEMs. Microsoft still didn't fail. The ability to run any number of GPUs makes Windows king of that consumer market. But any number of TN screen netbook crap hurt their brand reputation.
The Surface has been hit-and-miss, but over its lifetime it's brought a real vision to what they were trying to do with their touch efforts. Windows 2-in-1s are an excellent solution for a lot of people.
I don’t see this as a bad thing at all, I see this as a ‘transitional move’ to the future. We are living a digital world now. It’s a digital monster where everything is online in terms of purchasing more than ever due to the pandemic. Ordering, repairs, can all be conducted online, and we’ve seen continued growth through Internet sales more than foot traffic, and I think Microsoft is one of the many that will make the transition over the upcoming years.
One of the two that are in my area seemed to be fairly busy. The fact that they hosted lots of e-sports events helps, I remember there was really massive crowd when some famous Korean player was there a couple years ago.
It's really unfortunate turn of events for anyone who owns one of Microsoft's Surface products - it was really the only place you could go for help as their remote support is pretty horrid.
It's really unfortunate turn of events for anyone who owns one of Microsoft's Surface products - it was really the only place you could go for help as their remote support is pretty horrid.
The one I went to at the mall was always empty and the Apple Store on the other side of the hall was packed like sardines with a cop guarding the entrance.