Posted on 02/13/2009 11:06:32 AM PST by lainie
Microsoft Corp. said it hired a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive to help the company open its own retail stores, a strategy shift that borrows from the playbook of rival Apple Inc.
The Redmond, Wash., company said it hired David Porter, most recently the head of world-wide product distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG, as corporate vice president of retail stores for Microsoft.
In a statement, Microsoft said the first priority of Mr. Porter, who is also a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart, will be to define where to place the Microsoft stores and when to open them. A Microsoft spokesman said the company's current plans are for a "small number" of stores.
In a warehouse near its Redmond, Wash., campus, Microsoft created mockups for how Microsoft products might be displayed either in its own stores or in a retailer's.
It remains to be seen whether the effort can add some pizzazz to Microsoft's unfashionable image, which Apple has sought to reinforce with ads that mock its competitor. Mr. Porter, in a statement, said there are "tremendous opportunities" for Microsoft to create a "world-class shopping experience" for the company's customers.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
That they have a really wide variety of products that sell really well mostly through other retailers who take a cut and they could sell them on their own and get all the money.
“And we can’t hate the idea because it’s from Microsoft; it’s not. It’s from Apple!”
What a store that sells stuff from a company? Wow, never seen that prior to Apple doing it. /s
Companies like Sony, and Gateway2000 had stores like this back in the 90s.
I work 1 building over from the Redmond store. My thoughts: they need to offer more books, and they need to allow software sales to non-FTE’s.
I’d be psyched to be able to get MS SW products without having to mail order or cajole an MS-alum to get it for me.
As for those mocking MS SW quality - you truly have no idea
of the immense amount of expense and effort is spent here on SQA and testing.
It’s not an either or thing. MS is a big company and with this it’s getting bigger. When they branched out into peripheral hardware they didn’t pull resources from the hardware division, they just got bigger. When they added gaming to their software business they didn’t pull resources from the OS or application sections, they added again. Now they’re adding again, nothing about this means less people working on the next version of Windows trying to respond to customer demands (which they actually do contrary to popular belief).
I have none of those Apple products and I live full and compelete life. >:-}
I want to get a job at one. I’ll slip DVD copies of Linux into every box & bag. :-))
Dumb move. They are now competing against their retailers. This would appear to have only slightly more thought behind it than the porkulus bill.
Hey, whatever happened to all those Gateway stores that were around a few years back?
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Hey, whatever happened to all those Compu-Add stores that were around a few years back?
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Hey, whatever happened to all those Compaq stores that were around a few years back?
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Hey, whatever happened to all those IBM small business stores that were around a few years back?
Judging the way Microsoft has run things recently....this will result in few Americans being hired....but great hiring program for Indians....
H1B Visa hell here we come....
I can see the job requirements right now ,,, it’ll include 3 years experience with XXXXX , a product Microsoft only sells in India.
gasp hahahahahah
gasp
hehehehehehe
gasp hic snort... heeheeheehee PING!
ROTFLMAO - Microsoft to open retail store to compete with Apple's Store...
These keep getting better and better... This is apparently the first thread...
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Your claim has been debunked on a zillion threads, but that's the great thing about the internet. Every good rumor gets circulated forever. Hey, did you know the Man in the Moon logo on Proctor and Gamble products is really satanic?
Even the crickets are not heard there...
They want Mojave!!
Maybe I can clarify his question for you..
Microsoft does not sell computers they sell software. The apple store and its support works because they sell you the hardware, on top of that they control all the hardware.
MS will have to support any old configuration that comes in off the street unless they want to get into saying that 99% of the people who want to come in for support cant get it because of a third party nic.
Can MS make this work? sure but their strong point is *not* customer support nor any kind of universal hardware set. This is a potentially a bad idea because its MS trying to force their round peg of a business model (albeit a successful round peg) into a square hole of a market.
You mean the interface that Apple created after paying XEROX $1 million in pre-IPO preferred Apple Computer stock for two eight hour tours (First tour, Steve Jobs only, Second tour, Jobs and two Apple software engineers) of their Palo Alto Research Center and the right to use whatever they learned? XEROX sold the Apple stock for a 700% profit three years later, after the IPO.
Apple took no code from PARC and there are major differences between XEROX's GUI and Apple's... for instance Apple has overlapping movable windows. Apple's GUI had sub-menus, PARC's did not...
Facts are hard things, aren't they? Rumors and spin is so much more fun. Learn the facts, stop spreading the lie.
Here is the problem with this idea (that I see). I don’t like the apple store because it sells Apples, I like the apple store because of the genius bar and those work because the hardware platform is uniform.
Selling in direct competition against their own retailers... such as Walmart, Frys, Circuit City (well, not), Radio Shack, Game Stop, and every Mom and Pop computer store in the country. Sounds like a really good business plan to alienate your business partners.
Have demonstrations of stuff from their R&D department like Surface, Photosynth, World Wide Telescope.
Ok, but then you create demand for products that may never see the light of day.
Apple opened the Apple Stores to retail their own products because the retailers were doing a poor job of it. In spot checks, Apple found that display Macs were disconnected, complete turned off, or had been sabotaged with all applications disabled in over 50% of the stores. Sales people in third party stores were found to be deliberately re-directing potential Apple customers to Windows PCs based on false or completely outdated information, FUD, and/or telling them they were "Toy" computers. The sales people, unfamiliar with Macs, would almost always steer customers to the platform they were familiar with... Windows PCs.
Apple decided they needed to sell their own stuff directly to the public. It has worked remarkably well. Apple Stores produce more revenue per square foot than any other retail operation in the World, including out producing by FOUR TIMES the previous number one retailer, Tiffany's Jewelry Store.
Apple did have some problems with Apple resellers complaints and lawsuits about Apple Store competition in the same town. Most of these independents did not survive the competition.
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