“Our sources close to Microsoft have confirmed that the company wants to reach out for the retail market presence. Microsoft wants to open and create many retail shops dedicated exclusive to Microsoft and its products,” Fuad Abazovic reports for Fudzilla.
“This is something that Apple did with its many Apple retail stores around the world. Microsoft will put its retail people in the shops with hope that these skilled people will be able to show the true Microsoft experience,” Abazovic reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Joe Architect” for the heads up.]
The true Microsoft experience? Frustration and mediocrity hardly beckon for a retail showcase. This is just more half-assed copying of Apple. What are they going to do, instead of intricate staircases, install glass ledges from which their suckers customers can leap?
At least Microsoft Retail Stores would be colorful with all of their Red Rings and Blue Screens of Death and Brown Zunes on clearance.
At Microsoft Retail Store Grand Openings, the first 1,000 people to visit get a free bottle of Pepto. Microsoft will still have 900+ bottles left after the first week.
Fact: If they tried to open retail stores, Microsoft would be about as successful as Gateway or Dell. Anyone who says differently lacks even the vaguest understanding of why Apple dominates retail like none other.
Aghahahahahahahaha
This is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time.
?First?
Yet another example of “You can’t make this S#*t up!!!
LOL
MW=”few” Just too perfect
They should open them right next to the Apple stores and see what happens!
This is hilarious.
The stores would get egged at best and possibly stoned!
Customers could actually confront them with the problems they experience with their products. That would be a hoot.
I suggest that, should such stores open, we encourage anyone who has ever encountered a Microsoft-based problem (i.e. everyone) to confront the poor saps working there.
No need to kill the minimum-wage messenger, but if it’s a constant barrage of negative comments from “customers” in these stores, the less-informed passers-by may start associating their computer problems with the company actually responsible for most of them.
To truly reproduce the Microsoft experience, they’ll have to flood the HVAC with airborne pathogens and require everyone to put on a Norton™ gas mask when they walk in. Oh, and let shady Russian mafiosos look at your credit card numbers.
this is sad.
can’t they do anything original
they look so pathetic.
at least the stores will have relaxing blue lighting
When you check out, the checker will tell you 10 different way to pay and options on how you want your receipt printed. When they bag it, you have to choose 10 types of bags. Do you want basic to premium bag?
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April 1st was a couple of weeks ago.
The thought of a Microsoft store makes me ill.
What will they sell?
Windows, mice keyboards, XBox and the Big-Ass Table?
I’m beginning to think of Microsoft as an elaborate money laundering operation.
Sure, they’ll be opening in 2009, no wait 2010, or maybe 2011. There’ll be 5 versions of the store, with a different entry fee for each. They’ll also need to authenticate you before you enter, and at other odd times if for example you take your hat off while in the store. Occasionally all the staff will freeze in one spot for about 10 minutes.
Oh, and don’t be in there on a Tuesday.
This makes no sense at all. What are they going to complete with their partners again? Sheesh, MS is so screwed up.
Can you imagine what the color scheme would look like? Are there going to be multiple stickers all over the walls?
Mr. Rheee … my thoughts exactly. Someone in the marketing department somewhere forgot to file this story on April 1st.
When I went to Brazil, a few years ago, the hotel I stayed in had an internet cafe. Every morning the technicians would install a “fresh” copy of Windows and by night time the machines were stuffed to the gills with malware and porn ads. If M$ tries to have machines that users can play with just like the Mac store…I can just imagine how the PC’s will look at the end of each day at the M$ shop.
Just my $0.02
Over 95% market share and they have to open stores?! Wow.
It would be like those places in Japan where people can go to break dishes and smash things.
LOL – So that’s how Microsoft is gonna piss off all it’s business partners in one go.
Excellent.
And yet again – they copy Apple’s lead.
Imagine the dire shopping experience you are going to get at a Microsoft store.
I can see it now… there will be nothing you can buy in the store and as soon as you enter the shop a Microsoft Salesmans demands your credit card details and brainwashes you into buying an enterprise Windows Vista Licence.
LOL. – this has the word FAIL written all over it.
How will they show Windows off? Are they going to have non Microsoft hardware in-store? As last time I checked, Microsoft don’t make their own computers for Windows.
This is great news. Please please please have your outlent in a suburban mall beside a Starbucks. Can you imagine sitting outside on a lovely sunny day enjoying a capuccino and watching what people would do to the store? Most people I know hate MS (and the majority of these are PeeCee users).
This would be like going to a stoning or a hanging like in the good old days.
Finally, Zune Tang’s “skills” can be used. Hey Tang, you can finally move out of your mom’s basement and maybe afford a place of your own.
Personally, I welcome Steve Ballmer’s latest ‘innovation’ in taking Microsoft into the retail space: actually they should open retail stores in every main street and shopping mall in North America, Europe and Japan.
Just a couple of questions though…
• If the stores are Microsoft products only and most people are already running a Windows-based computer, what will they be buying from the store? Zune? An Intellimouse?
• If the stores also sell hardware, which OEM will they favour? HP (in which case, you offend Dell and the rest)? Dell (in which case you offend HP and the rest)? Why be an OEM partner to a company that doesn’t see you as a partner? Let’s ask all the companies that signed up to PlayedForSure.
• Maybe you won’t favour a single OEM and instead you’ll see hardware from many manufacturers? I’m sure that’ll be acceptable to Fry’s, BestBuy, PC World and all the other resellers.
No, I’m sure all of these questions are unnecessary! A massive intellect like Steve Ballmer would have thought of all of these issues.
MS’s NYC grand opening of its first store will include an almost-live concert of the Stones playing Wheel Me In.
The opening will be delayed six weeks because of a shortage of bullet-proof vests for the “associates.”
Magic Word: indeed.
That article sounds like it was written by Zune Tang. Are we sure that is not a reprint of something released on April 1?
What?
This is a becoming reality! http://www.theonion.com/content/news/thousands_wait_overnight_at
They can hire the homeless to staff the Genius (not) counter.
Lets see –
Apple – store full of hardware and software all playing together nicely
Microsoft – store full of crappy OS in retail boxes, some titles like Office, Flight Simulator, Streets and Trips etc. Playing on what hardware? Anything they might use would be an implicit endorsement of that vendor. Or maybe one of each HP, Dell, what ever is in WalMart that day. what fun.
Being a copycat when you don’t understand the question is very dangerous.
Checkout clerk to manager: “Customer wants to buy this piece of junk. Cancel or allow?”
They could include a ‘Dummies Bar’
I can see it now… the unveiling of the flagship Microsoft store in NYC.
The curtain will drop and you will see a cube made out of tank armour so that that the 1000’s of pissed-off New York Windows users cant get in.
There will be air holes in the side of this metal monolith so that the ‘suckers’ (store employees) who work in this confined environment can breath.
There will be an electrified fence around the store with pressure sensitive plates around by the laser locked entrance which measures your windows frustration level as you get near the building.
If you get too near the shop you will be grabbed by a fat bald man who will be driving a large lorry full of broken chairs.
This retail experience will be incredible!
When you saddle up to the Almost-Average-IQ Big-Ass-Table (= genius bar), the table will automatically scan your credit card and start buying things without your permission while the salesperson distracts you.
To Winston:
And a giant paper clip will follow your every move.
“It looks like you’re shopping for a mouse. Do you need help with choosing a mouse?”
Several times a day the store will close at random and for no apparent reason. The public address system will announce a long string of letters and numbers to explain why.
At the checkout, your bag will be stuffed full with offers for free Viagra, international lottery winnings and Photoshop for $10.00.
The store will be twenty times larger than a Wal-Mart Superstore in true, grandiose Microsoft style. They will have motorized carts to transport customers around the store. But no drivers.
The Dummies Bar would, of course, just comprise of a large wall mirror and a ledge upon which the customer could place the PC he/she is having problems with and stare at the dummy in front of them..
LOL – this is gonna run and run…
The problem with this are many. One of the biggest is; Microsoft ALREADY has market penetration. You can buy Microsoft products EVERYWHERE. Creating a specialty shop is only problematic.
I am amazed that someone actually thought this would be a good idea.
‘Eh… I’m sorry… But you could try the Apple store.’
Only the biggest idiot in the world would have come up with an idea like this.
Microsoft are gonna make the stores probably as some sort of corporate tax scam.
This is a great day for people who sell pearl necklaces and lipstick, because Microsoft is going to need a lot of it for their pigs.
Oh, what will they fail at next?
Just when you thought they couldn’t sink any lower! This combined with the astonishing (non) success of the Zune, combined with the Yahoo debacle, with a dash of Vista on top . . . Microsoft is going DOWN. Awesome.
forgot the splendor of the big ass table. We should be selling tickets.
I apologize all of you for all my previous remarks.
Zune Tang
That’s going to be a joke. BSODs as far as the eye can see.
Apple has a retail presence because they have thought out that experience over many years, and have matured their vision. For one thing, they have actual hardware products that pull people in to play.
What will Microsoft be able to showcase? They will have Dell or HP computers, Zunes, mice, keyboards, probably their new touch table that no one could afford, and a bunch of their software bloatware that has gotten really stale. Oh, and they’ll also have Yahoo!
So there’s two inititives that will be a money-pit.
1. @Zune Tang: you’ve nothing to apologize for. Your comments are very entertaining and it’s even more fun to watch how you get the fanbois’ knickers in a twist.
2. Obviously, Microsoft has more dollars than sense.
Imagine what the Zune display would look like. Imagine people sick to their stomachs.
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Cute. Now they’ll need tech support to unlock the front door, maintenance to replace the burned out bulbs daily and someone to rotate the old inventory to keep from gathering dust.
I saw Four Horsemen and a Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. I wonder if that has any connection to today’s rumor?
nothing sexy about selling boxes of software…
look for this to be a store by committee…
like broadcasting…. somewhat appalling to many, useful to few
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!! That truly is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard!!!!! They’ll be selling the same Vista OS for the next 3-4 years at least, yeah, great…. Now THAT’s innovation!!!!
… while the Monolith engages in some epic floundering about! Lock up the women and children!
What exactly are they going to sell in these stores? Boxed software, Zune & Xbox?
Maybe they can just rent a couple feet at the end of Apple’s Genius Bar…
Epic, epic self-delusion.
Microsoft trying to reach out to consumers… They don’t know what they’re in for!
This is the sad thing about having a monopoly. They can keep losing billions upon billions of dollars, because they know that revenue will always be coming in. Doesn’t matter if they produce mediocre products, failed products, failed acquisitions…. no worries whatsoever. We got a monopoly. We make money no matter what the heck we do….. How pathetic is that? LOL
Yes, Zune Tang and I will be there in front of the MS Store hand in hand, sipping our over priced Starbucks coffee.
How original.
And PC World will be pleased, I’m sure.
Doomed…Doomed I say!
The Microsoft Stores will last about as long as the Gateway stores.
Wait and see.
Their portable point-of-sale stations will run the newly released “Vista POS” on full-blown desktop systems sitting in steel carts that have one wobbly wheel each. The stores will need to be closed twice a day “for scheduled maintenance” — to disentangle the cables.
Translation: feast your eyes on the artisanal bread, upon which we will serve you your shit sandwich!
Yum. They hope it will taste like chicken.
…and Listing to Abba on our Zunes.
Ah, love in the spring! Nothing quite like it.
Maybe they’ll use MacBooks booted up with Boot Camp to show Windows. The ad will be, Come back to Windows! That new Mac you just bought can also run our software!
Let them bring on their retail stores. It’ll just hasten Microsoft’s demise.
The store entry will actually be marked by an exit sign
I wonder if the shops will have windows ?
I wonder if the M$ packaging designers will design the stores? There’ll be no room to move!
Not Balmer told me we will sell them big ass tables cheaper than anyone else can produce a regular, “dumb table.” Hell, we will give them away if we have to. Every one in the land will have big ass tables and they will not get dinner until they have purchased a copy of Vista and installed it.
Is this another April Fool’s article? Kinda’ late MDN..
At this time, the only ‘news’ articles about this all source the single Fudzilla article. There is no confirmation or corroboration.
We’ve heard this before nearly 3 years ago: http://apple.corante.com/archives/2005/08/29/microsoft_retail_stores.php
Let’s not leap like trout at something so flakey.
This is what “desperation” looks like. I’m imagining a Microsoft board meeting. Ballmer keeps asking, “Anyone have any good ideas? ANY IDEAS AT ALL?” Some nerd sheepishly offers, “Well, we COULD open our own store.” Ballmer says, “Is that the best we got? OK, we’ll go with that.”
Bottom line: Apple Stores offer stuff the customer will actually WANT. Some geek in a paper-clip sandwich board out front, slackers running the MISinformation desk, shelves full of unsold, overpriced copies of Vista won’t cut it.
An M$ store with ……….. Let me guess ….. Big Ass Table with the blue screen of death screaming at all who dare enter, and ….. the Zune! Finally the Zunies will be able to share their music with their much looked for other Zunies …. What a brilliant move by M$!!!!!!!
Where is the real Zune Tang? We have a job for him.
It’s just going to be a rebranded Toshiba store.
It’s amazing that as a species we let Microsoft become such a huge company that they can hold back our development for decades and release a stream of money losing initiatives that fail to dent their huge profits. Much as we may hate Microsoft, from a certain point of view there’s an element of genius at work there. From a certain point of view.
MCCFR: If the stores also sell hardware, which OEM will they favour?
Simple.
OEM partners will be able to showcase their products by participating in Microsoft’s simple and inclusive Steadfast Partner Retail Emporium Alliance for Distribution (SPREAD) program. Joining is easy and the method for selection is well thought out and fair. Partners may showcase their wares in the stores by simply joining the SPREAD program and ensuring that they’re current with their program dues. Rates vary based on the size of your company, and will be determined by the What I Decide Enactment (WIDE) as detailed in the SPREAD agreement (Use index if necessary).
For preferential placement on the store shelves, you may also want to participate in the convenient online bid-for-placement program, otherwise known as Positioning Wares Non Elective Donation (PWNED). Participants of the PWNED program may “earn” any number of the top two thousand positions on store shelves, as laid out in the Excel spreadsheet conveniently located on the dedicated area of the Microsoft website (spread/wide/pwned.a$$).
See?
Simple.
You mean they’r going to have an actual human being for their customers to yell at face to face?!!! Precious!!!!!
Great comments everyone, made me laugh thank you all.
MDN magic word “merely” as in Microsoft may merely be the best source of unintentional humor this side of Ann Coulter.
I live in Pasadena, California and the Apple store on any given day is always jam packed. If you place a Microsoft next do all you would hear would be the crickets of a empty store. Their store would sink like a lead ship.
I would think the whole point of a Microsoft Store would be to NOT show the real Microsoft experience. It would be more of a ‘under ideal circumstances [a centrally managed OS with only a limited amount of software installed, only a few different hardware setups with no peripherals], this is as good as Vista could possibly run’.
…and somewhere in the distance a dog barked.
I smell an EPIC FAIL coming on.
I always needed an easy access public bathroom in the mall anyway…
Welcome to Micro$uck public bathrooms.
I LOVE this idea! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! A nation-wide chain of MS stores could be the real tipping-point from a market-share perspective. Apple presence will only get larger and larger from there!!
I don’t know what is funnier… the rumor article or everyone’s responses to the idea.
Thanks everyone.
ROTFLMAO! Now you can go SEE how hard Windows sucks BEFORE you buy it!
LOL!!!
HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!!!!!!
This is too far down to be read, but….
Where can I get that Gates/Balmer look? The Vneck sweater.
They look like they woke up, were told to refer to page 6 of the MS dress manual to produce a “soft, warm and fuzzy” look. And page 6 calls for a light colored button down, with a pastel Vneck sweater overtop. It also instructs to slouch and smile a lot.
What they forgot to mention is that this will be a vacuum store so they can demonstrate why their products don’t suck.
I’m thinking those aforementioned glass ledges will be for the employees to jump from after being barraged by an unceasing hail of problems and complaints.
Oh, and if anyone does want to buy one of the zillions of different versions of Vista, the machine that charges your credit card will say “We are now going to bend you over and rape you and your wallet so hard, it’ll come shooting out your mouth. Accept or Deny?” And of course in true Windows GUI fashion, either deny won’t actually work or will actually secretly be another Accept button. Either that or it will come up with a message saying that Deny is not allowed.
This may be a good thing for Windows users, MS could keep the store open 24-7 staffed by regional support staff (thus bringing back jobs to North America), this would give an outlet for those frustrated users out there who require support……………unless they storm the building with pitchforks and torches a la Frankenstein first. (In which case we put bolts n Balmer`s neck, give him huge square shoes and let him growl and hiss at the masses)
they are looking down right panicky…do they know something scary about their future that we don’t?
Some classes offered at the new Misco$quish store:
–Advanced Chair Throwing 201
–Monkey Bouncing for CEO’s in training
and last, but not least,
–How to sow Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt thru advanced use of Press Manipulation and Vaporware.
Just my 4¢ from North Pole, Alaska
aaaaahahahahahahuahuahuahua!!!
Oh, that’s so funny, I… OH NO MY SHORTS!
“Microsoft will put its retail people in the shops with hope that these skilled people will be able to show the true Microsoft experience.”
Laugh out loud funny that is.
i sure hope they do this…
because the truth is going to hurt.
If the symbol in front of an Apple Store is (naturally) an Apple, then it stands to reason that the symbol in front of a Microsoft store should be human feces. For what that logo will represent is all the shit that they manufacture and dish out to a clueless public.
I see a lot of defaulted leased retail space about 9 months after MS opens these up, and I’m being generous.
They will sell XBox 360 consoles at half price and piss off the only retail partners that aren’t ready to string Ballmer up to the nearest lamppost.
NOW YOU CAN HAVE YOUR PLATE OF CRAP ON A LINEN TABLECLOTH
Floor plan for MS retail stores:
hilarious
mw: followed
I seriously doubt it would happen but I’d guess that their won’t be a head to head display of OS X Leopard vs Vista in the stores! LOL Apple on the other hand? Probably would!
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A colorful Grand Opening retail showcase,
with leftover Pepto gifts for the “True Microsoft experience”?
Holy Shit…
Just glad I wasn’t drinking milk…
Thanks!!!
@El Guapo
Hahaha… that’s just hilarious.
Can’t wait for the first Mucustool Store to open in DC – gonna plop myself down at a Surface Table and have some pizza and beer. Maybe read the Post, too. Oh, yeah — I’ll move some life-sized Polaroid knockoff digital images around on this 4′ x 3′ POS so that they don’t overlap one another.
Pathetic. I hope they actually DO this (open stores).
MDN Magic Word: SAME. As in Mucustool tries to do the SAME thing that Apple does, only 5 years later and nowhere close to the original…
The Crapple Store
Soon to be renamed-
The Beleaguered Crapple Store
I still think that bill gates is gay, i mean look at the guy, he would be a perfect man for Zune Tang
So the minute you arrive in the shop, the sliding door controlled by a vista OS enters into a trance and you can’t get in….LOL
Frankly I am surprised it took them this long. First off, they will sell a lot more xBox’s and xBox accessories. They will sell a lot more keyboards and mice. And there are still a heck of a lot of office users out there that would go buy direct from MS. Still, 70% or whatever is left after Apple’s gains, use MS and a store like that would greatly benefit business and individual users. I only own Macs but still get countless calls from people to fix the simplest things on their MS machines. No matter how much I try to convince them otherwise, some people are tough to switch. People don’t like change.
My point is simply not to underestimate the competition. Just by sheer market share, these stores will appear like revenue generators. They’d also be good platforms to launch things like the MS home server, MS VoIP phones etc..
Please don’t get me wrong, I personally wouldn’t grace the doors there (unless it was a visit to the special Mac BU section!) and would choose to spend my hard earned dollars somewhere else (Apple Store).
MS will also use these stores to promote cell phones running Windows Mobile. Guaranteed these phones will be terrible but still some people will buy them.
I just don’t understand the mindless bashing that goes on here sometimes. The stores will do massively better than Dell. And regardless of the impracticality of the big coffee table, one or two will be in each store and it will act as eye candy that draws a bulk of the population in. (Like flies to $h!T). Let me tell you, when a MS employee places a camera onto the table and the photos wirelessly load to the desktop, there will be oohhs and aaahhhs. Birds are attracted to shiny objects.
Again, I am stunned it took them this long. Please keep in mind that I actually can’t stand most MS products and really loathe their licensing strategies and pricing techniques.
Two words: DEATH NELL.
It’s amazing. From all the way back at the beginning, they can’t help themselves. They have to copy whatever Apple does. It’s in their DNA (ask David Pogue and Bertrand Serlet).
Point & click, drag & drop, menus, the desktop metaphor, windows, file folders, trash cans, pointers, Windows Media Player, the Zune, now retail stores???
If Apple had never existed, they would’ve died in the 80’s; they wouldn’t have had anything to copy!
Let’s all pray they do this so we get to witness the demise of the original copycats in our lifetime.
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
Frustration and mediocrity hardly beckon for a retail showcase.
That never stopped Best Buy or Wal-Mart.
Microsoft will put its retail people in the shops with hope that these skilled people will be able to show the true Microsoft experience
Oh boy. So….
Will things randomly pop up in your way, asking permission and demanding confirmation before letting you continue?
Will people have to press a big green Start button to leave the store?
Will there be seven different kinds of MS stores?
Will the stores open a decade late, then have a major remodeling announced a year later?
Nah. The sight of stores full of blue-screened Dells should be “full experience” enough.
I honestly cannnot see how Microsoft is ever going to make any money out of this.
Everyone know how crap their products are, they dont need a retail chain to show that.
Also, why goto a Microsoft store when you can get the same products in 10 other stores along the high street?
Apple is different, one of the reason why Apple created its own retail chain was because their was hardly any stores selling their products, and the ones that were selling them were doing a great job of it.
Apple needed its own stores for market penentration and to make people aware that there is an alternative to crappy Windows OS.
Microsoft does not need any of this so it’s a total waste of money and time.
Add to the mix that store chains like PC World (UK) sell virtually everything you could need (if you want windows) and unless the Microsoft stores sell stuff you cant get in any other pc store (which they wont!) then this isnt a viable business idea.
The retail high street is the most competitive market there is, even well know brands struggle to make any money.
In the UK we had a nationwide network of Virgin stores that sold dvds, music etc and they vanished because Richard Branson wasnt making any money at the stores.
So if a massive retail brand like Virgin cant make it a business success then there isnt a businessman on the planet that will be able to make the Microsoft stores a winner.
are you fucking kidding me?
what the fuck are they gonna display? shitty operating systems and outdated office suites? what computers? WHERE’S THE HARDWARE JACKASS’S???!!!!
microshit is the worst fucking company
i pray for mass shootings and sucides there
They can have the Moron Bar instead.
Microsoft needs to have some desirable products first before it can “showcase” them.
beautiful just beautiful.
The picture posted here at MDN of Bill and Steve looks like they are a singing duo on the “Lawrence Welk Show” being interviewed after some crappy song they just sang about the Old Brown Jug. I bet they have white leather shoes on too.
Turn on the bubble machine.
I honestly cannnot see how Microsoft is ever going to make any money out of this.
Which is why MS absolutely needs to do this (from an AAPL holder’s perspective, anyway).
Tie this with debt (after buying Yahoo) and an insane new Windows death march, and MS will have brewed themselves a perfect storm.
How could it get any worse? Maybe MS will make their own PCs too, and challenge Dell for the money-losing bottom of the market.
Any MS stores will be the most unpopular locations in their shopping centers.
I don’t see how they could possibly compete with established “cool fun” places like the Apple Stores. Even bored mall rats would avoid the MS storefronts (except maybe to get free xbox time).
Heh maybe MS will use a ploy from their PC playbook: build the stores into the mall entryways, so consumers HAVE to pass through and deal with MS.
Heh maybe MS will use a ploy from their PC playbook: build the stores into the mall entryways, so consumers HAVE to pass through and deal with MS.
Almost forgot: then count those forced pass-throughs as retail visits…
To sell what? Rows and rows of Windows?
You’d need the body of a bouncer to work there.
Finally a place we mac heads can go and have a few laughs.
To sell what? Rows and rows of Windows?
Yes. One row for each Windows version. One PC for each hardware combination.
Other unnamed sources state MS is considering buying entire shopping centers, just to get enough floor space…
What if the PC boxers told MS to go to hell, leaving Apple as MS’s only storefront computer supplier?
What if Apple then demanded MS sell Macs and OS X as part of the agreement?
Sweet revenge, or just nuts?
Actually, they already opened a gleaming store here in Short Hills NJ at the Short Hills Mall and it’s not too far from the Apple store…..
Funny how the Microsoft Experience Store has a sign hanging over it that says ‘Restrooms this way’
I’m thinking ‘just nuts’ . . . I can’t imagine Microsoft employees selling OS X or a Mac in a knowledgeable and informed fashion. It would be akin to when there were iMacs in Sears or Best Buy collecting dust a number of years ago due to the fact that nobody knew how to sell them. I think Apple knows what they’re doing with their retail strategy. That same logic in reverse is precisely why Microsoft would fail, methinks; as has been pointed out, the proliferation of their products in other places makes it pretty silly for them to try and compete with their own partners. It’s like Plays for Sh*t all over again. Then again, this is Microsoft we’re talking about.
I thought I would add a serious comment to the abuse… Microsoft has already tried this. As San Francisco residents know, they had a retail store in the Metreon shopping center and it failed miserably. True, back then (2000) they didn’t have the XBox, but what else will they be able to demo? In the old days, shrink wrapped copies of Office and Age of Empires didn’t exactly draw a crowd; hence the demise of the store.
Retail experience for M$… I don’t get it at all. They have Windows – everyone knows that. They have Office – ditto. They have Xbox – ditto times two. Everyone is aware of these M$ products and they are better off leaving the experience to the consumer’s imagination IMHO. About the only thing that they could show people would be the Zune, but that is a waste of time. It isn’t going anywhere fast, and the cost of the retail exposure would far exceed the revenue from any potential sales gains. Nope, this is a vaporous ploy to keep M$’s name in the public eye while they struggle over the next few years or so to create a better view than offered by Vista. In the end, this is just more wind from the nether portions of Ballmer’s anatomy…what a horrible thought.
Keep thrashing around Microsoft, keep up the bleeding. I hope Ballmer bets the company on it.
Seeing that Microsoft doesn’t make computers, only software to run on computers, does this mean that Microsoft stores will have 15% of their floor space dedicated to Apple Laptops and 7% more of their floor space dedicated to Apple Desktops? After all, that is about the market reach of Apple computers in the USA.
I think it would be great to have them showcase how Apple Computer hardware can run Microsoft programs and interact with Window based hardware.
And sell what? Software and Xboxes? All they would do is hurt their existing retail deals if they did this…
That would explain why Steve Ballmer has been spotted giving “tours of Bellevue Washington Apple Store” in Bellevue Square
to developers who work with Microsoft & talking about Microsoft Office for Macintosh new release…
I laughed so hard I couldn’t read the comments any longer and had to take a break. The thought of MS selling Windows ME , Oh I mean Vista in a mall next to the dumpsters and people throwing eggs at the delivery truck driver cracked me up. So lets review… taking a ten year product,that if it were an automobile would have been shut down by the government the first year and trying to market it in a mall? People could watch as every store phone was lit up with complaints and bags marked with Microsh_t trademark? Failure is expected and denial just aint a river in Egypt.
Ahahaha. Ha. Ha. Hahaha. God yes… Ballmer’s bleeding Microshit dryvwith his decisions. Of course, his system is quite simple. I can see it now. Ballmer in a room with the largest shareholders. “So, what are we doing to stay on top?”
Ballmer looks edgy, sweat soaks him. Thinks: Shit, what would Apple do?
This also works if you replace the question with one about the portable music player market (Shit coloured mp3 players or the “Zune”). Or operating systems (Twisted, warped version of Mac OS X Tiger or “Vista”). Or touch screen devices (Big ass table iPhone replicas or “Surface”).
Actually, doesn’t Microsoft already operate its own (single) retail store somewhere in New York? I’m possibly mistaken, but I’m MDN covered an article once about this store that dealt exclusively with XBoxs and Zunes?
Eitherway, Microsoft may be overreaching by setting up its own stores – Having only an Xbox and Zune on offer kinda limits the idea of choice, right?
I just hope all the employees wear those nifty sweaters!
“t least Microsoft Retail Stores would be colorful with all of their Red Rings and Blue Screens of Death and Brown Zunes on clearance.”
Didn’t Apple have their own BSoD when people tried to “upgrade” to leopard?
And before I get flamed how many of you are still using tiger until they sort out the bugs with leopard?
My wife wants a pearl necklace for x’mas, and I have no idea what to look for when it comes to pearls. What are the best places to buy from in San Francisco? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!
pearl earrings