Posted on 02/14/2009 9:38:57 PM PST by Swordmaker
It’s enough to make you rub your eyes, blink and squint to make sure you’re not hallucinating.
But it’s true. Microsoft plans to open its own chain of retail stores. On Thursday the Redmond company announced it had hired former Wal-Mart executive David Porter to make it happen.
Microsoft seems to think it can duplicate Apple’s retail success, using a chain of stores to improve the “Microsoft retail purchase experience” and to combat the stereotypes – artfully reinforced by Apple’s “I’m a Mac” TV ads – that owning a Windows PC is fraught with difficulties.
I hardly know where to begin, so let’s start with the first thing many people will think when they hear of a Microsoft Store: “Oh, just like Apple.”
Contrary to the goal of improving public perceptions, the announcement of a Microsoft-branded chain of stores screams “copycat” – historically one of the worst knocks against it. Not the best way to start rehabilitating your image, guys.
(Excerpt) Read more at weblogs.baltimoresun.com ...
This is a little bit different. This is a move of the change I think we will see in the future and that is “demo” retail stores. Essentially stores opened in selected areas that allow you to come in and test a product. No inventory and no need for large retail foot print. I think auto manufacturers will eventually adopt this format as well. Obviously there will always be stores along the line of the traditional model.
“that are already sold in retail stores”
Sort of. Most MS products are not on those shelves. MS has hundreds of products. I rarely see a dozen.
“But whose hardware are they going to use (Apple is a hardware company)?”
Interesting question. I think you might, and this is total speculation, might find MS partnering with some of the better companies to produce shelf space for their computers.
CompUSA sucked and is/has going out of business. Microcenter is about the only computer store with anything to offer and even they suck. Best Buy is a joke of a “computer store”. Wal-Mart carries very little. There just isn’t a serious computer store out there.
The fact is, Microsoft does not have complete representation of their products in the retail store market space. If I were them I’d open stores and find computer makers willing to partner.
That's a good question. There's the X-Box, keyboards & mouses but I can't think of much else.
Ballmer mocked the iPod and said it would fail. Ballmer mocked iPhone and said it would fail.
I had to laugh at that one. Gates turned Jobs face down years ago. Not saying he did anything illegal, but he used the standard MS technique of partnering long enough to figure things out, then using the knowledge gained during the partnership to kneecap the former partner.
Jobs is much wiser now, and he knows better than to trust Gates. He also understands him. The Mac/PC commercials, with Justin Long portraying the Mac (and, by coincidence, a young Steve Jobs) and John Hodgman portraying the PC (and a young Bill Gates), Jobs knew he was tweaking Gates mercilessly. Probably about 1/2 of Mac advertising now is aimed to affect the guys in Redmond as much as it is to consumers. Jobs threw out that mullet reel and reeled in some mullets. In interviews, if Gates or Ballmer were asked about the Mac ads, they'd get extremely defensive. Ballmer, who wears his emotions on his sleeve, got visibly angry in a couple of interviews. They're firing up the money canons and aiming them at Apple, but so far their aim has been poor.
Also, although many see Apple as a miniscule competitor, MS 4th quarter sales were 16.6 Billion, compared to 10 Billion for Apple. MS profits are still higher, at 4.1 Billion to 1.6 Billion. However, those who claim that because Apple has only 10% of computer sales (up from around 4%), it means they are not a major player, need to look at the big picture. Apple total sales are roughly 60% of MS sales, not 10%. Profits are around 39% of MS profits. MS is still bigger, but they can't ignore Apple. Apple has moved into areas where MS cannot use monopoly power to kill other players and has been incredibly successful. MS has successfully defended their de facto monopolies, but has had little to no success in expanding into new areas. XBOX 360 is finally showing a profit, but they're still selling the boxes at a loss, and counting on software to make up the difference.
MS uses Windows and Office, which have incredible profits, to finance a ton of underperforming or money losing projects. Apple makes money on the iPhone, iPods, iTunes, MobileMe, hardware and software. Jobs also understood the concept pioneered by Walt Disney. Everything Apple advertises everything else Apple. Each unit is very useful on it's own, but becomes much more useful as you add another part of the Mac ecosystem.
Seems to me that MS needs Window 7 yesterday. Whatever else they do pretty much would tend to validate the theory that "the fastest way to kill a bad product is to advertise it."
BTW, the iPhone is becoming almost like a magic wand. I just got two new applications for a total cost of 99¢. One is a bubble level; the other a yardstick. They both work. The level is extremely accurate. The ruler is accurate enough to measure a room for carpet, although I wouldn't use it to measure a board for cutting. There's a $10 app. that tracks expenses. You take a photo of the receipt, and have a copy attached to the notation.
I don't know if Apple will come out with a web book, but the iPhone is unreal in it's usefulness.
I like the idea of the stores, too. I think its good news that they’re actually investing something in the economy instead of quaking in fear over the future.
Having been out of the Winbox world for over five years now, I hadn't thought about it, but you're right. I can't think of a single chain where you can count on walking in and talk to a person who's knowledgeable about the offerings, and where the computers will be up and running with representative software that you'll actually use.
IF MS puts these stores out and has hardware "partners," expect a slew of lawsuits from manufacturers that are left out. If they are successful in developing hardware "partners," expect them to work with them long enough to figure out the market, then stab them in the back and try to corner the market. For reference, see "MS Plays for Sure."
“There’s really no reason for an MS store,”
In that case, there’s really no reason for an Apple store. I think it’s a profit thing.
I guess maybe I should parse my words more carefully. I don't see any BUSINESS reason for a Microsoft store. The BUSINESS reason for the Apple Store was that Apple Inc. went to different stores that sold their products, and found the Apple offerings were stuck in a small corner, frequently unplugged or disconnected, and that the sales staff tried to steer customers away from Apple products to Winboxes.
Apple decided the only good way to showcase their products was to do it themselves. They started selling direct because there weren't enough retailers willing and able to support a sales chain. I bought my first Mac at CompUSA, and almost had to fight the sales guy who kept trying to move me to a Sony (Look, if you want to spend that much on a computer, get the Sony! It runs WINDOWS! and it's a REAL computer!)
MS has a huge retail ecosystem, and they have an incredible amount of inertia, in that if you walk into ANY computer store except an Apple Store, and generically ask to see some computers, they're going to take you to Winboxes. You have to make a special effort to get an Apple product. You have to make a special effort NOT to get a Winbox.
It seems to me that MS is risking alienating much of the retail ecosystem that supports them religiously to open a retail chain with little that indicates it will generate significant profits. I still come back to the only reason they're doing it is because Apple did it. Unless they've got big cards they aren't showing, there's no business (profit) reason to do it, especially with the economy heading over a cliff.
“You have to make a special effort to get an Apple product.”
Never had that problem. On the other hand, the Apple Store is full of gay 20 somethings with nose piercings who don’t know shit about aftermarket products that work with Apple.
I found a headset adapter on Ebay for $8) for my iPhone that allows me to use regular headphones (instead of those annoying, uncomfortable ear buds) and still answer the phone. The same product at the iPhone store was some $40 Bose thing and the employees didn’t even know it was hanging on their wall.
I bought my Mac at a non-Apple store. No problems.
Re: serious computer store
Fry’s Electronics.
BTW, my gaydar’s never gone off that strongly at an Apple Store. The salespeople there remind me more of the slacker best friend in a horror movie. The CompUSA guys were more like the ShamWOW guy, and the people at Best Buy, I think, were the kids who got beaten up on the way home from school. Just my observations, and it could vary from store to store.
I was at a presentation by the CFO at Apple and he was talking about the reasoning behind the stores. Essentially, they went to CompUSA and other stores that sold Apple products, and asked them about the products. Well, the CompUSA people came up very short, and essentially were steering people away from purchasing a Mac. At that point they realized that without an exclusive retail setting, Apple would be at a disadvantage because the salespeople, the peripherals, the software, etc. were all geared towards Microsoft-based computers.
Fast forward to today, and Microsoft is seeing Vista being badmouthed and they can't seem to get a handle on it. So now they are trying to control the retail experience to control perception. Except that's the exact wrong reason. They could have kept Vista system standards high enough for a good user experience. They could have made the UAC less obtrusive. They could have optimized the performance to reduce overhead for less powerful systems. And I think they are trying to fix these with Windows 7. But they see Apple having control over the end-user experience and getting the public to see Apple products in a positive light, and they think they don't need a good user experience to back that up.
You would think Apple invented company run retail stores from some of you all are saying.
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