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Microsoft Targeting Apple Stores With New Retail Store Concept
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Boutique users in the windows world???????
It doesn't help to have a ferrari if the driver is a dumb (dumb is windows)
Sigh. I couldn't agree more. This thread has less than 25 comments of any value whatsoever. The rest are either lame Microsoft jokes or insults or the same old Mac vs. PC flame war.
Hardware options are the key factor. Plenty of selection and the compatibility of powerful hardware is a good motivator. It's easy to upsell someone on a few more dollars on a video card right now over a processor.
The i7 920 sells like hotcakes since you can overclock it. The 4890 is a few dollars over the 4870 1 GB. The primary operating system is going to be Windows. Right now the Windows 7 RC is the prime choice since it's effectively free.
You're just not stuck with sliding a few clock speed mutlipliers on yet another Core 2 or dishing out the grant money or writing it off as a business expense for a Mac Pro on the Apple hardware side.
I can't wait to bring my DELL and bitch on their "Moron" bar. I mean that must be what it will be called right? Apple has the "Genius" bar, Microsoft will have a "Moron" bar.
Thanks for the giggles! I just spit out my soda in laughter.
No-No.
Hardware is horsepower, it's nothing special. It isn't intelligent, it isn't smart, it isn't ergonomic, it isn't to be understood by the user.
The only difference between a Mac and a PC is the OS (and of course the apps)
Agreed. I just watched that video you linked to and if these stores have workshops for users that teach people how to use the features of Windows in the same way that video does, I think they will be successful.
Not unlike the workshops at at Apple stores, I imagine they'd have workshops about digital photography and video, xbox integration, a media center PC, Zune Pass, etc.
And they can market these things by saying, "And you don't have to buy anything else to do these things!"
Or like someone else said, they can tell users to just walk down the hall to the Best Buy to get what they need. This way they win and the retail partners win.
I still think this a smart move by Microsoft and probably something they should have done a long time ago.
Microsoft is putting stores near Apple stores for the same exact reason Home Depot and Lowes put their stores near each other. Most people prefer either Home Depot or Lowes, but most people are not willing to drive any farther to get to their preference. Most people, even if they prefer Home Depot, will go to Lowes first if it is closer to their house. If they are effectively the same distance away, then this variable is eliminated, and then they can compete on price, customer service, etc.
This is why they are putting their stores near Apple stores.
Sadly Apple is crippling my hardware choices. I'd love to buy something from them if they offered computer hardware worth my money. I love using OS X but I've had to push it back to managing my iTunes library. It sadly does that all to well. I've moved my processor and video heavy tasks over to Windows. I can't budget in a Mac that can compete. Luckily I have multiplatform tools unlike some other users. I do talk to a handful of "professionals" here and off of MacRumors that are drooling over the Core i7 hardware Apple doesn't provide outside the Mac Pro. There are plenty of users just a few clicks away from that XPS Studio system or going Hackintosh if they're that terribly bound to OS X.
My MacBook works so well at what it does that it keeps me from buying a new Mac.
Retention and education is what really matters. When I was working department IT I'd run into plenty of decade old Mac users that had never used Exposé or Spotlight. They'd be in awe of me using the most basic features.
Microsoft has a long road ahead but they have a chance here if they can make it an inviting and informative environment. (Where have I heard that before?)
I'm not sure how many sales they're going to pull off with other vendors and retailers.
This is the problem with Microsoft, instead of trying to improve their current products all they care about is entering into as many markets as their competitors. The only reason they are building a store is because Apple has one. They even admitted it which is why they want to put them next to Apple stores. Heck you don't see Apple trying to build a search engine or a game console. They build on their existing products and try to improve them.
I can imagine a "Microsoft Store" in the same mall where the local Apple Store currently resides. In fact that would be the best placement. There's a Sony Style store already there as well.
I remember a few years ago when I could hit CompUSA, Best Buy, and Circuit City within the same hour since they were positioned so close to each other.
LMAO the MS store is going to be epic, I can't wait to try out the MS notebooks................ oh wait, they don't make computers, i guess ill stare at the Win 7 disks
um... im not sayin theyll succeed but what if they do. i'm a mac guy, always have been, but apple insider broke a story that they pc laptop hunters ads worked. we did see a price drop in the new macs.
everyone on this site is a bit to fanboy-ish in my opinion. u can love macs without laughing at everything pc people do. dont forget that the percentage of mac owners, aka people on this forum, is tiny still
everyone on this site is a bit to fanboy-ish in my opinion. u can love macs without laughing at everything pc people do. dont forget that the percentage of mac owners, aka people on this forum, is tiny still
they're building retail stores to showcase their items, not sell them?
i guess in a sense that might help their 'brand' because when people look at a zune, and xbox, they might not realize they're both by microsoft. and this lets them make more direct contact with their customers. which might lead to improvements. and increased user knowledge.
people are attracted to fancy looking things. new things. things that aren't copies of other existing things. (zune, ipod, stuff like that)
a reason why apple sells. they have sleek gadgets that are very appealing to the consumer. gamers and other users demanding a more powerful computer than apple offers (and cant afford the higher end ones) may go to windows computers but for the most part, consumers only need it for simple internet browsing, e-mail, word processing, maybe some photo and video editing. (iLife)
Apple's line of products defiitely appeals to these people a lot more than Microsoft products do.
i guess in a sense that might help their 'brand' because when people look at a zune, and xbox, they might not realize they're both by microsoft. and this lets them make more direct contact with their customers. which might lead to improvements. and increased user knowledge.
people are attracted to fancy looking things. new things. things that aren't copies of other existing things. (zune, ipod, stuff like that)
a reason why apple sells. they have sleek gadgets that are very appealing to the consumer. gamers and other users demanding a more powerful computer than apple offers (and cant afford the higher end ones) may go to windows computers but for the most part, consumers only need it for simple internet browsing, e-mail, word processing, maybe some photo and video editing. (iLife)
Apple's line of products defiitely appeals to these people a lot more than Microsoft products do.
How is it not trolling to go on MR and say "90% of the Mac owners I have met were pretentious wankers?"
Well because this thread supports his point. 90% of it is lame jokes about Microsoft. Show me an Apple fansite that doesn't consist of MS bashing and the worship of Apple as if they were some sort of Renaissance.
Why do they need to play these games.
I'm not understanding why they're scared of Apple?
They still dominate the desktop operating system.
Shouldn't they be more afraid of IBM, Oracle and now Google instead of focusing on little old apple?
I'm not understanding why they're scared of Apple?
They still dominate the desktop operating system.
Shouldn't they be more afraid of IBM, Oracle and now Google instead of focusing on little old apple?