Microsoft Stores Are Great For Everyone... Except Microsoft
Monday, July 27, 2009 at 6:03AM 
Whether Microsoft follows through with plans to ape Apple's Retail effort to the extent of having a "guru bar" or "answer bar," one thing is certain: Everyone except Microsoft will win. How? Take a look:
Apple:
Apple stores are no longer a mall novelty. Mac and PC users alike, in millions, have stepped in an Apple store. It will be painfully apparent how much Microsoft has "borrowed" from Apple.
PC Manufacturers:
While Apple owners may focus on Microsoft's copycat strategy, for the Dells and HPs of the world, Microsoft stores offer a chance to have their products showcased in what should be a far better environment than Best Buy/Walmart, etc.
Consumers:
Has Microsoft's Movie Maker caught up to the ease of use of iMovie? Truthfully, I don't know. But when the day comes that anyone can easily compare applications, at the local mall and decide for themselves which is best, everyone wins. Both Apple and Microsoft will be challenged to continue innovating.
So we say bring it on Microsoft, the sooner, the better. A lot of people are counting on you.
Reader Comments (11)
What is the point? Microsoft is a primarily a software company .How interesting is a software box?
Most of the hardware stores have not succeded.
Yes MS is primarily a software company but the stores would no doubt feature Zune, XBox & specialty HTPC setups in order to show how well MS fits into your lifestyle. Apple users are perceived to a certain type of consumer (affluent, picky, creative with some disposable income) and that Apple's products fit their attitude and lifestyle. It would seem that Microsoft wants to tap into that concept and become more than just what's running on your computer.
Yes, the MS stores are clearly copying the Apple stores. But haven't people learned? You don't have to be original, first, or best. All you have to do is set things up for a monopoly and throw hundreds of millions of dollars at it. Pretty soon people will use it not because it's good, but because it's just barely good enough.
I see a problem for MS here. Strategy is push low-end for the price advantage, but demo cutting edge in the store? Will there be high-end (read >$1K) PCs in the store? Next door to Apple? SO that it is easy to compare price/feature at the mid and high range? Oh and the low end PCs here can't do all the cool stuff?
I foresee this ending badly.
Don-
And how has throwing money at the Zune, Xbox (which still loses money), Bob, and all of MS's consumer ventures worked? Simply, they haven't. Let them throw more money away and during the next quarter MS will not just lose 17% of profits, but be deeper in the hole.
MS is the GM of technology and software companies.
The glaringly obvious issue here is that MSFT will not be making money with these stores. They will be money-losing boutiques that will only drop their profits even further. How many mice, keyboards, Zunes, Xboxes and software could they possibly sell? Not enough to sustain a store front.
Apple Stores are huge money-MAKING ventures. They count on them to make money, not just advertise for Apple. That's the difference here, and MSFT will be making a huge financial mistake if they think this is going to help them turn-around.
Once again, MSFT tries to copy a competitor they don't compete with. Apple had to start their own stores to get their computers in the right light. And it worked. Big time. MSFT is out of ideas and they only seem to focus on what the competition is doing. And they fail because they can't innovate with their own ideas.
Gateway tried stores. Problem for MSFT: if all your products suck, how does putting them in a pretty store help? EVERYBODY has used Windows. If they are STILL using Windows, it's because they feel they "have to" for some reason.
@Tom B
Problem for MSFT: [...] all your products suck...
Maybe they could sell vacuum cleaners?
All the money spent over the past right years to develop Vista, eight years of salaries and tons of other costs need not have happened. XP is good enough for most PC users. They don't want anything else. It is, after all, their pressure that has kept XP there in spite of MS's attempts to kill it.
As far as I know, the only non-OS, non-Office Suite products that make money for MS are its mice and keyboards. There's a whole long list of Gate's weird and wonderful, earth-shattering visions that were going to change the world: that watch computer thingy that never appeared, the tablet PC, Surface, Zune, XBox (it doesn't make money, they've lost BILLIONS on it), WinCE and Smartphones, Origami, WebTV, MSNTV, "Plays for Sure," I'm sure there are more.
Why is this? Why? Especially when Apple is soaring?
There is a fundamental difference between the two companies. Apple innovates (make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products). It can do this because it is basically, one man's ideas. Apple is very definitely the creation of Steve Jobs - whether he is physically there or in hospital, it runs on HIS IDEAS. Microsoft is committee based. Try getting an original idea out of a committee. Can't be done. Committee decisions are compromises - a committee "decision" is the lowest common denominator of those present.
Picasso, Beethoven, John Coltrane didn't create in committees. What would be an example of "committee music?" The Monkees?
I rest my case.
"Yes MS is primarily a software company but the stores would no doubt feature Zune..." HAHAHAHAHA!!! You must have been the person who one! HAHAHA!!
This nothing more than a billion self gratification for MS.