You are here: Home → Forum Home → The Mac Observer Forums → Apple Finance Board → Thread
Microsoft tries it’s hand at retail
-
Copy shamelessly. After some time, with enough Microsoft stores, folks would think Apple is the one copying Microsoft.
Signature
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. - Steve Jobs
-
williamjames
- [ Ignore ]
Skate to where the puck was and capture the attention of those in the stands who are a little slower. Then sell them ... uh mostly 3rd party products. I think we have a winner Mr. Ballmer. You’re getting lunch, right?
-
Can you bring a F’d up PC into one of these and ask for help? Just what questions WILL they answer? I’m curious as to what that experience would be like. I imagine a line about 15 blocks long waiting to see a MS expert-person might do the trick
-
DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
I think this store opening is getting far too much attention.
First of all, the only growth market for Windows PCs at the moment is the netbook market. In order to support a massive retail expansion margins need to be created. To sell higher-margin versions of Windows 7 at retail prices the hardware to support the OS version needs to be purchased elsewhere.
It’s another sad example of a money splurge and perhaps a shareholder unrest defense. By following Apple’s moves, management says to shareholders “we’re doing what you think might work.”
The fact is, there’s no market share to gain from the move, no direct revenue generated in a material way and the continuing commoditization of the Windows PC market continues unbated. The fact is Microsoft isn’t betting on a robust upgrade market, but a rebound in PC sales. Windows 7 won’t change on important market reality:
The market is quickly moving to handheld devices and Windows 7 does nothing to reverse that trend. In order for Windows 7 to succeed in boosting the Windows platform, hardware margins need to improve for OEMs. Right now Microsoft is carrying the burden of success on its won shoulders. Not an enviable position for expanding revenue and margins across the Windows eco-system.
-
John Molloy
- [ Ignore ]
It also strikes me as odd in that Apple have a clear reason. They make the goods. They sell the goods.
Microsoft here have opened an Apple-inspired Best Buy in a mall. Just what is needed.
Signature
.
-
Really as long as they charge for repair and virus removal they will have a brisk business and once your in the store they can upsell you to a better system. Free directions to the Apple store :-D
-
This should be in the jokes thread [actually this whole topic should] but I’ll put it here for its relevance to Win 7.
-
So, today is a big day for Microsoft. They release Windows 7 (I never understood how you got to 7) and they have their retail store opening. The store is to open in Scotsdale AZ at 10:00 local time.
Any first hand information would be appreciated on either topic.
They went from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows XP (5) to Windows Vista (6) to Windows 7.
You forgot Windows 2000 which was really NT5.
-
They went from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows XP (5) to Windows Vista (6) to Windows 7.
And from what I understand (I don’t have a copy) the “ver” version of Win 7 is actually “6.1”
Yup - a Vista Service Pack
ROFL
-
Absolutely hilarious, from the FAKE STEVE JOBS blog:
Friday, October 23, 2009
I just called Fester to congratulate him on the look of his new stores
I’m like, No really, where on earth did you come up with the look and feel of these stores? I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.
He’s like, Ha ha. Well, I like to think of it as an homage.
And I’m like, Oh, is that French for stealing?
He goes, Hey, good one. You mean like what you guys did with Xerox Star?
I go, No, I mean what you guys did with Windows.
He goes, Oh, you mean, take what you did and make it better? Or take what you did and make it popular?
I go, Just the take what we did part.
He says, Hey, it’s how we roll. It’s how we do. We watch, we learn, we improve.
I go, Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
He goes, Bitch, please. You’re the one who said, Good artists borrow, great artists steal, right?
I go, Actually it was Picasso.
He goes, Well, you can’t sue us. We looked into it. We made it just different enough. And anyway you stole the look from the Gap. Or J. Crew. So don’t act like you invented it.
I go, You’re out of your mind, aren’t you?
He goes, Totally. But anyway, you can’t patent the way a store looks. Seriously, we had the lawyers check it out. And our stores have video walls. Totally different from yours.
I go, Yeah, and your retail people are all fat and stupid looking, whereas we hire slender, attractive, artsy people.
He says, Hey, you play to your base.
I’m like, Right on.
He’s like, Are we done?
I go, I think so.
He goes, Okay, so hang up.
I go, No, you hang up.
He goes, No, you.
I just sit there. I say nothing.
He goes, You still there?
I go, Yup.
He goes, Okay, let’s count to three and hang up at the same time.
I go, Fuck that. You hang up.
He goes, Nope. You.
So I did it. God I hate you Fester. I fucking hate hate hate you.
Signature
“Even in the worst of times, someone turns a profit. . ” —#162 Ferengi: Rules of Acquisition
-
X - 3 = 7
FINALLY! My Algebra I class WAS worth it!
Great little equation there, man! Perfect timing. Perfect.
-
Honestly, my first thought after seeing the pics of the opening: Wow, is that place huge. It’s going to look reeeeeally empty in about a month with no customers inside.
Apple opened its stores because retail chains either wouldn’t sell Macs or wouldn’t sell them well. What can you buy at a Microsoft Store that you can’t get at any Best Buy down the street from you? Nothing.
Signature
"ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" - Charles Darwin
What’s the difference between a Mac and a PC? Macs are designed, PCs are assembled.
-
John Molloy
- [ Ignore ]
Wow, is that place huge. It’s going to look reeeeeally empty in about a month with no customers inside.
They need the space for the queues for the support bar.
Signature
.
-
Just what is Microsoft selling in their store? Can’t the customers buy anything that the MS store would sell somewhere else, probably cheaper? (E.g., Best Buy)
I’ve been to two Apple stores, years apart. The latest was well over a year ago in Portland, OR (the closest to me). The store was packed at 8:30 PM. The rest of the mall (open, more like a neighborhood or the “high street” in an English town) was tame by comparison, except for the movie theater.
