Microsoft’s retail strategy is high risk/high reward. If Microsoft is able to go toe to toe with Apple and beat them at their game, which is perhaps the best overall customer experience in all of major-chain retailing, they’ll be reaping the rewards, and the accolades and case studies will be written, and well-deserved. If they’re not able to beat Apple, the Microsoft brand will have taken a major hit at retail, and the postmortems and case studies will be written about that. There aren’t many observers who are betting on Microsoft to succeed.

@ Peter: Short answer: Microsoft’s market is NOT growing. The Microsoft Store sounds like a desperate effort to get a buzz, something that’s eluded them for a long, long time.

Peace,
Gene

@ DaveD:
I am with you on this one. Microsoft is showing serious sign of menopause and is loosing its bearing fast. I have been wondering what kind of PCs will be showcased in the store. The cheap ones that has been heavily advertised recently will certainly look out of step next to the Window 7 Ultimate edition selling for $300 plus. This whole thing is looking weirder and weirder and I am absolutely stomped with it.

Gene, consumer sales are actually a growing part of the market. So Microsoft wants to be there. How does Microsoft get there? By going where the consumers are–the mall!

So, basically, you can’t understand why Microsoft might be trying to improve it’s position and perception in a growing market by being where it’s customers are.

As for Al, well, go easy on the kool-aid.

Windows 7 working on a 4 year-old Dell probably won’t be very good, you’re right. If you have any doubts, a trip to the Microsoft Store will probably set you right. Mac OS X 10.6 isn’t going to work very well on my iBook G4, either. But if I had any doubts, I’m sure a trip to the Apple Store would set me straight also. So it seems like having somebody around to answer a question like that would be a good thing, huh?

I’ve actually found very few stores where I can “try out” Vista the same way I can in an Apple Store. Can you tell me one place I can actually “try out” a Zune? I’ve seen them in stores, sure. But I can’t usually “try them out”–you know, listen to music, watch videos, etc. Most PCs that I’ve seen in stores are locked down, requiring a password in order to use them, and they don’t have Internet access. This is one place where Apple Stores really shine. Is it any wonder that Microsoft wants to copy them?

As for the question about what is Microsoft going to sell that Best Buy et al don’t carry? That’s not the point!

In a 20 mile radius from where I live, I have two Apple Stores, two Best Buys, a Fry’s Electronics, and a MicroCenter. What the hell is Apple selling at their store that I can’t buy at Fry’s or MicroCenter? Not much. I can buy a Mac at any of the above. Third-party hardware (eg, video cards)? Fry’s. Third-party software? MicroCenter has a much bigger selection than the Apple Store. I can buy iPods at Fry’s or Target (which is also within the 20 mile radius). I can buy an iPhone at one of two AT&T stores that are within a 2 mile radius of where I live.

As for the Big Ass Table, I’d actually love to see a demo of one. This does seem like a pretty good place to show it off.

@ Al: Those “Bag Ass” tables will change the world. Didn’t you know?

Peace,
Gene

@ Peter,

Windows 7 working on a 4 year old Dell. Pure comedy gold. Win 7 chugging away on a P4 space heater. The roar of the fan, the smell of the burning dust bunnies, as Win 7 streaks along at half the speed of XP Pro SP3.

Seriously, there are dozens of places in every city where you can try out Vista and in a couple of months Win 7. Same goes for Zune and X Box. Many of those places also carry Wii, PS3, iPods and Macs running Leopard and in a month or so Snow Leopard so you can make a more informed purchasing decision buy steering clear of the MS Store.

Which returns us to the ‘Question’, what the hell is Microsoft going to sell that Best Buy et al doesn’t carry? The Big Ass Table?

That’s it! The Microsoft Big Ass Table Emporium!

Sorry, didn’t mean to spoil the surprise.

@ Costanza: Yes, that’s the ticket.

Peace,
Gene

I am really glad Microsoft is adding the Guru Bar. At last, a one-stop destination that I can route every single person I know with Windows problems, to visit. I hope they can handle the volume.

@ Peter: The problem here is that only a fraction of Microsoft’s business involves selling to consumers. So will they sell PCs? If so, which ones? Who would be “favored” with this approach? More to the point, a PC sales infrastructure has been in place for decades. While there were Apple dealers, far too many messed up the very special Apple experience, thus forcing Apple to do it themselves.

Microsoft and Apple aren’t really even in the same business, and thus can’t sell product by the same rules.

Peace,
Gene

Well, Gene, if you can’t figure out why Microsoft would try opening retail outlets, you haven’t been paying attention. It does make sense for many of the same reasons that it made sense for Apple.

Let’s set the wayback machine to 2001. Apple had an image problem and they didn’t have a good way to get their message out into the world. Sure there was advertising showing how easy it was to set up and use a Mac, but there wasn’t a place where customers could actually sit down and use one, except maybe at the back of a CompUSA. Asking a salesperson at a CompUSA about a Mac would usually end up with a salesperson directing them to a PC. Apple did not control the message.

The solution was to open Apple Stores, where people could actually come in and use a Mac. The Macs would have internet access, so that you could actually see that the ‘i’ in iMac stood for Internet. People would see that there was software available for Macs because the store would carry a plethora of third-party apps. Basically, Apple could dispell all of the various Macintosh myths (eg, Macs can’t use the Internet, Macs have no software) by creating a store that people would want to come into and check out these cool-looking computers. At the time, the belief was that even if the stores just broke even, it was a positive for Apple because they would be out where people could see them.

As Apple expanded it’s product offerings, the Apple Stores were a great place to go check them out.

Now, let’s jump back to present day and take a look at Microsoft.

Microsoft’s business model, as you point out, is different from Apple’s. While Apple sells both the hardware and operating system, Microsoft sells only the OS. Of course, you can upgrade your computer to a new OS without having to buy a new computer. Most people don’t do that. Why don’t they? Because if something goes wrong, you’re pretty much hosed. Now imagine if there was, say, a store where you could buy a Windows 7 upgrade and feel secure that, if something went wrong, you could bring in the computer and receive assistance. That might make users feel more comfortable about upgrading their existing computers–which is pure cash in Microsoft’s pocket.

Of course, Microsoft has to convince customers to upgrade to Windows 7. Remember Microsoft’s “Mojave Experiment”? They took a bunch of people and showed them what Microsoft was working on and people were really impressed. Then they said, “Hey, this is Vista! You can get this now!” And everyone was surprised! They’d heard such bad things about Vista.

(Now, in those people’s defense, I’m sure Microsoft was showing Vista SP2 which cured some of the really bad Vista problems.)

Microsoft has usually depended on the press to tell everybody to upgrade to the latest and greatest version of Microsoft’s products. But the PC press can’t be trusted to sing the praises of Microsoft products anymore. So Microsoft needs to get out there and show people how great Windows 7 is.

But where would they do that?

Maybe if Microsoft had some kind of store where people could come and see computers running Windows 7, could maybe talk to someone and have an idea whether Windoows 7 would run well on their 4 year old Dell, could find out whether they should buy Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 7 Home, etc., etc.

So they idea behind the Microsoft store would be to show people Microsoft’s products–just like the idea behind the Apple Store is to show people Apple’s products. If I go to an Apple Store and check out the latest MacBook Pro and then go buy it at MacConnection, Apple still made money. So the store makes me want Windows 7. Ideally, Microsoft wants me to upgrade my old computer (because they make more money). But if I, instead, go buy a new PC, Microsoft still makes money.

Why does this seem so hard to understand?

My guess is that they will sell a few different computers of each price class and type, from participating OEMs who pay for the privilege. If those OEMs are also involved in support, perhaps the stores will be designated as authorized service centers, then it would be easy to provide something similar to the genius bar, with the OEM paying for hardware warranty work, and Microsoft covering the cost of software training.

Just as Apple doesn’t own the Apple section of a Best Buy, but rather it is a partnership, so too could the Dell, HP or Lenovo presence be at a Microsoft store.

Does that mean that this will work? No. But there are plenty of possibilities for how Microsoft and partners could display physical products that customers can walk out with, and provide genius bar-like support.

Where such a store would really do well is in a Pro-Care type service. Many small businesses use Microsoft client and server software as well as productivity applications, but don’t have the budget for an IT staff. Just as I gladly pay $100 per year for Pro-Care to support the 6 Macs in my business and household, I would do the same at a Microsoft store for help with my Windows server and the two PCs.

You’re missing the true intent of Microsoft’s new store concept — the iMic all-in-one computer, the iSoft notebook computer line (the clamshell is soft to the touch and so warm and fuzzy, just like Macs, only literally), and the Zune Master, guaranteed to be as good as the 2008 iPod. Microsoft is going to follow Apple all the way to computer design.

Oh boy.

Of course, why would I REALLY want to buy Vista anyway? But the sarcasm of my first line was not apparent—the point I SHOULD have tried to make was that if you want Vista, it’s sold at a million stores around the country. Why does Microsoft feel it needs to open its own?

Before the Apple store, I had to go to my CompUSA. (And before that, I even looked at Sears for a grape iMac!) A pretty pathetic way of showing off the products, really. And nobody knew what made an Apple product different from a Dell.

Microsoft doesn’t need to introduce people to its product. In fact, it is TOO familiar with many, who have to spend countless hours getting it to do what they want it to!

Oh well. Microsoft has the advantage of having billions of dollars to waste on whatever they want to waste it on for now. Only thing is, if they keep investing the way they have been, that advantage will disappear. Along with their billions.

@ MichaelT: Vista at an Apple Store? No, but you can probably get Parallels and VMWare. Some third-party dealers are actually offering Windows, though.

Peace,
Gene

Why, I can’t WAIT until they open a Microsoft store! I mean, up till now it’s been impossible for me to find a copy of Vista to buy at my local store.

Of course my local store is the Apple store.

Come to think of it, they probably have Vista for sale there, too. I guess I’ve just never looked.

@DaveD, Microsoft has always been a forward-looking company. Because Apple has always been in front of them.