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Microsoft Targeting Apple Stores With New Retail Store Concept

Goona said:
You don't read the comments and stories on there about Apple?
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I read the reviews, informative posts, and listen to the podcast. Thurrott is more than happy to dish out criticism and opinions when it's necessary regardless of the company.

I wouldn't call him a blind Microsoft cheerleader either.
 
speedbumpnv said:
i can understand the model. its for exposure.

we have 3 Apple stores in Vegas, all within 5 miles along a single road. the largest one is located in a casino shopping mall, the most expensive retail mall in the world by square foot. why, there was another store not more than one block over in a much less expensive mall. exposure. its location within one of the most well known shopping malls in the tourist industry allows them to show of their production to many people that otherwise would never be able to see the goods in person. people from rural america and people from around the world.

this was more or less the reasoning behind the Apple store idea to begin with. it was the only way Apple could really reach the masses. they needed to put the products in the face of the consumers.
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Except that Apple really focused and was consistent; the stores are there so that it can reinforce the focus and consistency. —And they needed their own stores because the stores because their "niche" just doesn't fit in the line of Walmart computers next to it; people go to these stores to look for cheap stuff, not high-end.

Microsoft? Well, consistency is out of question—their original (and present) business model relies on diversity of hardware... So they'll have to put an HP next to a Dell next to an Acer... You'll end up with just "another electronics retailer"...
 
Gonzo3333 said:
I wonder if the microsoft store will have anything similar to Apple's Genius Bar? If so what do you think they will call themselves?
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Microsoft_Bob.PNG


Bob
 
BillyBobBongo said:
Does it matter? I'm sure they'll boast the same wealth of knowledge and expertise as those in the Apple store! :p
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Geek Squad sound familiar?

(Yes, i know it's Best Buy. I'm just giving the equivalent... You know, every Tech Support group is more or less the same..)
 
Microsoft stores are just like BestBuy, CircuitCity, WallMart, Futureshop... ect

Nothing so exiting...

If there is a BestBuy just next to the Microsoft store... people will go to BestBuy instead simply because of more choice then just all things Microsoft.
 
Bricks and Mortar Advertising

I must say, Microsoft really are innovating in the field of retail. They truly do "Think Different(ly)" to the tune of: To Sell, or Not To Sell.... that is the question."

In the world I'm familiar with, retail stores sell products and services. Advertising sells desire, information, etc.

So, Microsoft is going to innovate -- and you heard it here first! -- "Bricks and Mortar Advertising?!?!?!"
 
windywoo said:
Oh I know that Windows has its fanatics, they just don't seem to make up the majority of the userbase. Talk to someone who uses a Mac and 90% of them will not shut up about Windows and how bad it is, and how great their Mac is. They're so insecure about their choice that they keep needing to justify it to anyone in earshot. Nearly all the Mac users I've met were such stuck up pricks they would barely talk to you if you weren't wearing the right shoes.
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I am one of those people who don't bash Windows, and in fact I am on record as saying that you have to buy the OS/System solution that best suits your needs. I am not alone in this way of thinking.... we just don't bother to get involved in the insult slinging. We are the silent majority. If you go back and search this thread you will see I have posted twice, trying to start a logical discussion as where MS may be going with this idea - based on the assumption that perhaps they knew what they were doing. I don't recall you joining in that discussion.

Please don't make baseless generalizations - about people you accuse of stereotyping.
 
Porco said:
Apple's retail stores are all style and no substance. The Microsoft stores will actually be USABLE, REAL stores, where the customer can walk in and do what they want, not be 'offered products' or told how to pay!! All those Apple store customers are just people who can't use a REAL store.

If Apple stores are so good, how come they are not 90% of computer stores, huh? Also the things you buy in an Apple store will not work with the things you buy from other retail stores. Try attaching an iPod to a bag of groceries - it won't work! This is because Apple is so lame.

At Microsoft they understand that retail stores are not just about looking pretty, people need to actually get work done, and that means being able to customise anything you want to, without Apple telling you what to do. In Microsoft's retail stores, you will be able to re-arrange the bricks how you want, shift load-bearing walls into any configuration and you can put the stairs sideways! You can't do that in your i-ApplePowerStore!

If none of that convinced you, remember that Apple Stores only have one-door entrance, I think they call it The Puck or something. Microsoft retails stores will have at least 3 doors and a scroll-floor, and you can configure them all to go wherever you want (as long as it's inside, or outside or round in circles) You can't right-enter in an Apple retail store with pressing modifier-handles or something.
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Two Thumbs Up :)
 
DELLsFan said:
MS should put their money where their mouths are and offer financial incentives to buy more of their products or design new, revolutionary ones.
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There was once a time they did this. Remember when Lotus 1-2-3 was THE spreadsheet program and WordPerfect was THE word processor? Along came Words and Excel. They did what WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 did, only much better. The results? Lotus and WordPerfect were driven from those markets and never recovered. Now if MS focused its vast resources on improving Windows, it would be the 1990's all over again. Back then, MS could do no wrong and Apple could do...well...nothing.:eek: How the tables have turned. Now Apple can do no wrong and MS can do nothing.

Alas, with Ballmer in charge, I don't see MS innovating anytime soon.
 
chaosconan said:
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?

:confused:
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because they're greedy and they want it all - not 90% or even 97% but it all...basically they have deemed that at 10% market share they can seemingly re-commence their monopolistic bullying but this time on Apple.
 
miniConvert said:
Microsoft are going to have to work very hard if they don't want their stores to look deserted next door to the always-buzzing Apple stores. Seems like a ridiculous idea to me.
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I suspect M$ stores will have lines out of the door. All those people wanting to know why they have freezes, crashes and IE telling they are not connected to the internet when they are ... etc ... etc ...
 
DougB541 said:
:rolleyes: Really??

I know...hence why I think they will partner with other companies that DO sell smartphones, PC's etc.
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Then word your sentence better so it actually makes sense. You lumped it in with Xboxes and Zunes in the same sentence.
 
I could see people going there to demo and play with the XBOX360, but when Apple has a large photo of the iPod Touch in their window, is Microsoft going to have a photo of the Zune? Hahaha.
"Timmy, let's go look at the Zunes"
"No mom! I want to go look at the iPods!"
 
grapemac said:
Wouldn't this be all about raising awareness for Microsoft?

Sure, the majority of people use a Microsoft product, but the majority of people use this Microsoft product because they just think that that's what a computer is. I'm thinking about my parents here. They don't have a clue about computers and, just like in the adverts, they think it is a case of "PC" or Mac. Not Windows or Linux or Chrome or OS X... They're computer is a Dell or whatever. There's no mention of Microsoft.

If Microsoft actually makes the general non-computer-savvy public know that they make this OS, as a separate entity from the actual computers they (the public) are buying, then Microsoft can make them aware of its features, of its productivity uses, of their software, of all of these things' links to their other products... Zune, Xbox, their mobile phone OS... In this way, they are very much a similar company to Apple.

What i imagine Microsoft's aim is, is to make people aware that they actually make an OS. That Windows isn't just something thrown into, and made as part of, every computer that's churned out. That this OS has features and uses.

Going to their ad campaigns, "I'm a PC and i do this..." etc. That was a stupid mistake for them to make - but perhaps one they had to since their only other choices were to remain quiet or talk about an OS, Vista, that near everyone had written off. Even the shopper ads are silly, focusing on the hardware aspects they (Microsoft) have nothing to do with - again, this was really the only choice they had left at the time.
... (snip snip)... .
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I think you have raised an interesting observation. Most people (and anyone who posts on a tech news/rumour site is not "most people" don't see the difference between a PC and Windows. They don't know they have a choice. Microsoft may be making a mistake here if, because of the stores, people start realizing that there is a choice. Maybe Chrome OS, maybe Linux, or Maybe OS X. If you have 95% market share, and most people aren't buying Windows as a deliberate choice - why would you make them aware that there is choice. Hmmm...
 
bretm said:
I've never heard of that. Mall stores pay a
percentage of their sales? Profits I assume. And just who is in charge of calculating those profits? And then who double checks those numbers to ensure the other party isn't being ripped off? Oh, and then who keeps the mall from releasing top secret sales data to the public?

I call BS. This doesn't happen. The logistics are ridiculous. Plus, why would a mall even let some crappy store even open up, knowing there would be no sales to get additional revenues from? There are plenty of low sales reject stores in malls.
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Yes, actually - its true. That is how commercial rent is calculated. Its on gross sales, incidentally..... not profit. I forget what the actual figure was - but the landlord for the Apple Store in Manhattan released the Apple store sales figures recently. It was something like $1million/day, if memory serves.
 
Mousse said:
There was once a time they did this. Remember when Lotus 1-2-3 was THE spreadsheet program and WordPerfect was THE word processor? Along came Words and Excel. They did what WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 did, only much better. The results? Lotus and WordPerfect were driven from those markets and never recovered. ... (snip snip) ... .
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I remember it slightly differently. Along came Word and Excel, and MS virtually gave them away if you bought Windows. They undercut WordPerfect and 1-2-3 prices for an extended period of time, and drove them out of the market...
 
So what are they going to sell in these retail stores? Three different operating systems (xp, vista, and 7), zunes, and a wide range of mice which are about the only computer hardware I know if that microsoft makes. I guess they could also show off their xbox 360 but that would mean changing out systems all the time so that viewers wouldn't be deterred by the famous ring of death.
 
Jakethasnake919 said:
So what are they going to sell in these retail stores? Three different operating systems (xp, vista, and 7), zunes, and a wide range of mice which are about the only computer hardware I know if that microsoft makes. I guess they could also show off their xbox 360 but that would mean changing out systems all the time so that viewers wouldn't be deterred by the famous ring of death.
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Im afraid that XBox gamers are the target to Microsoft stores
 
Maybe they can fill the store with a whole wall of 3rd party Virus Protection software?

The other wall can be the 7 flavours windows comes in. You can just stand there and be even more confused, while you decide if you buy the full OS, or the cheaper / hamstrung version that will only run 3 apps.
 
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