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Microsoft Reportedly Poaching Apple Retail Staff
Eugen notes an article up at Ars reporting that Microsoft, besides copying Apple's retail formula, is now going after Apple's retail employees. "Microsoft is reportedly trying to hire away Apple's retail employees by bribing them with... wait for it, better wages. 'People that have spoken to The Loop on condition of anonymity confirm that Microsoft has contacted a number of Apple's retail store managers to work in their stores. In addition to "significant raises," the managers have also been offered moving expenses in some cases.' It doesn't end there: once the ex-Apple managers have jumped ship, they are asked to contact their top sales employees at their old workplaces and offer them similar positions at Microsoft's retail stores, also with higher pay. ... If you work in an Apple store near a soon-to-be-opened Microsoft store, apparently the software giant is giving you a free pass; no looking through job postings necessary!"
Every position above janitor in Redmond comes with either:
A) A paid for move, arranged for you, including having all your stuff packed and unpacked, and a hotel to stay in for a month while house hunting
or
B) A lump sum cash payout to do it yourself (mostly attractive to fresh out of college types with little to move)
I suspect they already had a similar program for retail. It's not a new benefit.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
They'll be given forged paperwork and identification so they can still tell friends, family and potential employers that they work for Apple.
I wouldn't go for it (and I don't work for Apple), but money is money I suppose. For many, job satisfaction outweighs wages, to a certain point. There's also the time already invested in the current position to consider; even if you're not completely satisfied with your current gig, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
Poach Justin Long, FTW.
Everybody has a price.
I remember Gateway stores were poaching from local retailers like Circuit City... the grass died on both sides of that fence.
I wish anything Microsoft does would still surprise me...
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
First of all this is coming from a Mac user. In fact im typing this on my macbook now.
Evidently the Mac Stores outside my area are quite different than the ones here. Here they are rather pretentious sterile cubes with one or two employees willing to show you why you really need that $3000 loaded macbook pro rather than the $999 macbook so junior can do his homework faster. 3-4 other people standing around and one guy at the Mac Genius table arguing with a guy that dropped his Iphone in water and expects a free replacement anyway. I have yet to find any employees outside the genius bar that actually know anything beyond their scripted demo, and the guy at the bar is usually too busy explaining something mundane to be of much help if you do not have a scheduled appointment.
Have the "I'm A Mac" commercials permeated the consciousness of Microsoft to the point that they themselves feel that no one but nerds and suits use windows? What good is a mac entrenched hipster selling windows?
I go into a Microsoft store, and what I can expect is... a store of people vastly familiar with the Mac but with little Windows experience.
Genius.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'd love for another company to see my work and offer me better compensation at a new job
Perhaps this is the only way I wish my life was a little more like Dilbert
Why this will fail: Apple's staff are only able to do their jobs (selling Macs, increasing brand loyalty) due to the tools they have- the product. If Macs and the software that runs them weren't so fundamentally appealing to consumers it wouldn't matter who was walking the floor- nothing would sell. Apple's sales approach is distinctly hands-off anyway. If this is how Microsoft hopes to copy Apple's success, they are approaching it completely backwards. Besides, Apple's managerial staff typically comes straight from places like the GAP, Target, and other large corporate retailers. Microsoft would have better luck looking at similar places.
Lets see, Apple has top to bottom control, OS, Developer Tools, Software, multiple lines of hardware, services.
Microsoft has OS, Dev Tools, Software and ...........no iPod, iPhone, Accessories, Laptop or Desktop hardware worth speaking of at the moment.
Now just what is Microsoft going to be selling? $300 boxes of Win7 while Amazon sells for less?
Once the experiment is over where do the "Genius'" work?
I think it is a story because we all see the Mac Store employees as being interchangeable with any other employee working in a mall. Thus, it seems that they are offering more money with no good reason.
They're paying people more for their expertise. Why are we upset about this? This is really a stretch as far as Microsoft hatred goes on Slashdot.
They're looking for retail managers with comparable experience and offering them higher wages. Nobody has ever refuted that Microsoft was a better employer than Apple.
...and the problem with that is.... WHAT?
It's interesting that they are initially hiring the managers, and not the salesmen, something which hasn't really been addressed in this thread. They're not after the salesmen, at least not initially, they're going after management. That makes one wonder if the motive is (A) to drain the management at apple or (B) to enhance it at microsoft? (or both equally?) Third possibility is that they don't care so much about the managers and are only interested in hand picking out the cherries in the retail or genius bar area as stated in the article.
All of this comes as no surprise to anyone. MS has already done what they do best, copy success. They did it with the ads, it only makes sense that they're doing it in the retail stores, best they can. It'll probably turn out as well as it has been for the most part lately... poorly.
Tossing my wild speculation into the pot, I'd say it looks like they want to see if there's something superior about apple's way of managing a retail store that they can assimilate into their stores, by way of transplanting a few managers over. The salesmen really don't matter in this, it's the managers selecting and hiring the salesmen that counts. There's too much churn in retail to accomplish much by stealing your competition's retail staff, and the gains are too short-lived. Should be interesting to see how this new application of "embrace, expand, exterminate" works for MS... (and I'm interested to see how Apple reacts to it? pay raises? no compete agreements? both?)
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Since when did paying people more for a job to get them to come to your company become bribery?
Yes, Microsoft needs staff for its stores. But Microsoft's whole "me too" retail strategy is about trying to disrupt and interfere with Apple's business model. That's the reason why Microsoft is trying to place their stores in close proximity to Apple's, for example. And if Microsoft can increase Apple's retail staffing costs, Microsoft would consider it money well spent. In short, Microsoft is all about trying to drag down Apple, not building up Microsoft.
Not only is Microsoft helping to bring higher wages to the retail sector--but who better to sell against Apple, than the best of the Apple retail staff? If anyone can do a good job exposing the gaps in Apple's armor, I would think it would be the folks Microsoft is hiring.
Let's hope they poach the staff from the Birmingham Apple Store: the craptard service they provide there is much more in line with Microsoft's standards than Apple's. The service is so awful there I sometimes I wonder if it's actually a fake store set up by Microsoft to discredit Apple.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
Yummy, poached Apples!
Wait a minute, oh Apple employees. Well, I hope they're not boiling the employees in water or cider with cinnamon and sugar.
/^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
As much as some of us may hate Microsoft, this is a good thing for Apple employees. For those that leave for Microsoft, they will presumably get better wages. For those who don't, this will pressure Apple to give them more compensation or other benefits and perhaps rethink the value of their employees. Fair competition is a good thing.
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News at 11. Go crazy you two. It's kinda cute.
thats like leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers to play for the Detroit Lions (with all due respect to Mr Foote)
Really like I'm going to leave the most successful retailer in the country to join some faltering companies crazy retail experiment.
I think Penny Arcade got this one right.
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Two more differences.... Microsoft chases the corporate market much more aggressively -- and has an OS and marketing strategy tuned to those market's needs (centralized control, scalability). And Microsoft has a broader product line (besides a scalable, supported server) they have a significant game business--both hardware and software. The retail locations will be able to push XBox and MS Studio Games--something that Apple really can't offer.
"...That is ridiculously heavy staffing for retail."
and they can afford to staff it well with AVERAGE annual sales per sq ft of ~$4000
for comparison: Best Buy = $971, Target = $300
Average Mall Store sales (for other stores) are around $400 per sq ft.
ref from 2006: "so Johnson then offered some comparison between Apple and electronics retailer Best Buy. An Apple store does 67% of the revenue of a typical Best Buy store, he said, in just 10 percent of the square-footage."
I like microcars