Microsoft May Open Retail Stores Soon

[3lvis]

I foresee a bunch of angry windows users bringing thier laptops in demanding that the store fix them.

 

[nekatreven]

Go ask 50 people off the street who makes Windows.

10 of them might know...and 2 of them might know that Windows is not the same thing as Office. The other 8 only told you who they think makes Office because they aren't aware of any difference.

For the size of their market...the vast majority of their customers are clueless who they are or what they do.

Many, many bad retailers have made money in the past regardless of how much they suck. If MS just does a decent job it will be profitable; cutting out OEMs on some sales and selling the OEM's wares in another part of the store. The customer interaction will be huge though. This is a good deal for them.

 

[fulle]

Microsoft has always been a strong backer of H1B programs and foreign outsourcing. In retail I'd imagine they'd be worse than Wall Mart.

 

[SkateNY]

The Apple Store brings in more revenue per square foot ($4,700) than any other retailer in the United States.

I don't see this as a winning proposition for Microsoft. Then again, being Microsoft, they don't need to turn a profit in their stores in order to be a success.

 

[Guest]

revenue per square foot (not equal to) Profit/Margin per square foot.

they don't make $4700 in all the stores and many of them just lose money, but the retail outlets are a must for Apple to promo their products. so why not others to do in a similar way?

 

[ThePatriot]

Zune zucked realy zoon.
MS Ztores will zuffer zame fate.

I don't what they are zmoking in Zeattle or Ritzmond, but it has weird effektz

 

[tank]

You are right to the fact that, what are they going to sell? Their own products. Now they can make more money on their own product. The most successful business control more aspects of operations. From material, to production, to the actual selling. Plus this is a way for MS to be even more visible and now they can put whatever they want in their stores. Everyone thinks of MS as a software company, and they don't think of an actual location. The will however undercut the people they supply product to. That is said but in today's economy a company has to look out for itself first sometimes.

 

[scatrdfew]

If they pay attention to the market and create their "retail image" with care they'll be able to compete with Apple's retail store. A lot of potential with an MS Store... it could own, or go down in flames, depends on how they execute it.

 

[wymer100]

I wonder if they'll have a "Genius" area like the Apple stores. Can you imagine the nightmares with that area? Half the time, they'll just tell the customer to call the computer maker. It'd be kind of funny if there was a Dell kiosk outside of the MS store. You could see people running back and forth as tech support says it's the other company's fault.

 

[davidgbailey]

Yeah, the geniuses at the Microsoft stores will be called "Jar-heads." David Porter is not a lucky man, he will be responsible for opening Microsoft up to an extremely large amount of risk. It may prove profitable. It may fail horribly. (Exxon, the largest company in the world, is selling all of it's retail outlets [gas stations] and delivery trucks due to a lack of profitability) Microsoft will be in direct competition with Best Buy (well it would have been in competition with Circuit City) so you see the risk. The mac stores are in a completely different situation as it relates to competition. I hate Best Buy and I would rather deal with the devil directly than having to deal with the devil by proxy. If the geniuses are pompous and condescending, then the Jar-heads will be bumbling idiots. It should be fun to pass by the trendy MS stores at the mall with their OVERSIZED ZUNE SIGNS!!! and blue-screen-of-death fans with their hip blue-screen-of-death t-shirts standing in line for tech support. This is going to be great. Bring it on!

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]fuser[/nom]I have to disagree with you there. MS makes great hardware. The keyboards in particular a the best you can buy for < $200.[/citation]

I just miss their optical trackball explorer. It was the absolute best trackball I've ever used and I've not found another brand or model that even compares. Ever since having problems with my wrists, I've had to switch to a trackball for everything and the one which comes closest is the Logitech Marble Mouse, but it still pales in comparison.

MS bring back the trackball explorer!! There is a reason they sell for $200 on Ebay!

 

[Guest]

I don't understand the reasoning behind this move. It simply seems reactionary. Most people only own one MS product and it is usually the OS that came with their computer. Additionally, most MS customers have little MS brand loyalty. The reason Apple retail stores are so successful is that they are able to leverage Apple's brand loyalty by bringing customers in the store for the iPod and selling their PCs/Laptops/AppleTV/etc. while the customer is there.

MS doesn't have the product line, the brand loyalty or the consistency of product that Apple has. Their model isn't suited well to the retain paradigm IMO. I will be very interested in how they attempt to overcome this problem.

 

[freggo]

Having owned a mail order company in the past I can not stop grinning.
Is it April 1st already?
MS has made silly decissions in the past, but it's own chain of retail locations ?
Please. They don't hae enough to sell.
It's like Kelloggs opening their own Retail chain, next to the Hershey chain and the Chiquita Superstore

 

[freggo]

[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]Having owned a mail order company in the past I can not stop grinning.Is it April 1st already?MS has made silly decissions in the past, but it's own chain of retail locations ?Please. They don't hae enough to sell. It's like Kelloggs opening their own retail chain, next to the Hershey chain and the Chiquita Superstore [/citation]

 

[V8VENOM]

I love it, Microsoft are freakin' scared of Apple -- this IS too funny. Anyway for those of you that haven't been around long enough, this IS NOT the first time Microsoft had retail stores. They had stores before -- nothing sold well, it was a waste of time and money.

But once again Microsoft doesn't understand the problem and why they are losing market share daily. It's not retail stores, it's crappy software that is supported by someone in India. The solution to all problems should not be "Format your drive and re-install the OS".

I just don't get Microsoft, rather than fix the real problem - code bloat, compatibility layers, and lame security, they think retail stores is the answer -- if you wanna do what Apple does, then provide a real working OS.

 

[V8VENOM]

Make jobs, are you retarded? Microsoft just layed off 5000 employees and at the same time requested an increase in H1B Visa's (65,000 federal cap isn't enough) -- you do know what an H1B Visa is don't you? They allow folks from foregein countries to be employeed by Microsoft. So yeah, it creates jobs for foreign countries, not the US.

 

[Guest]

I'd love to have a Ubuntu stand next to every MS and MAC store handing out free DVDs and a photocopied 'first time users' guide. Purely for entertainment value.

 

[xpcustom]

I for one think this might be a great idea. This way instead of being on the phone with tech support for hours speaking with someone who took english classes and half assed it, you can drop it in their laps and say "fix the f***ing thing"! Honestly we all know they will probably have their own service center for those who can't bear troubleshooting over the phone.

 

[tenor77]

This is a good idea. First off having a physical store people can go into increases brand recognition. It doesn't have to be a profitable venture as it allows people to use their products so they don't have to compete with their vendors. I don't see them being a common as an Apple stores by any means.

I can just see people picking up MS merchandise. A legion people wearing "I'm a PC" shirts.

 

[average joe]

I think this is going to be a complete disaster for Microsoft. It means that they are planning going to have to go into the hardware business instead of sticking to what they're good at. We have seen this kind of thing before and it has always failed. Gateway stores had a better shot of success. Sony Only may still be in business but im not sure on that.
Microsoft has been moving slowly into the "digital appliance" business for years now. There products are always good middle of the road products but they get very little market share. They make decent keyboards, mp3 players, USB headsets but it doesn't seem to be enough to fill a store. They're going to spend millions have to develop better product lines. In an era where Malls and Stores are going out of business all over the country and Online Retailers have had their best year ever why would Microsoft invest in brick and mortar stores at this point.