Microsoft 'Hut' Opens Outside Seattle Apple Store

theodp writes "On October 20th, Microsoft will open its 14th store in Seattle's popular University Village shopping center, where it will go head-to-head against an existing Apple Store. To help build buzz for next week's grand opening, Microsoft set up a temporary Kinect-equipped hut within spitting distance of the Apple store, a guerrilla marketing effort designed to catch the attention of the throngs flocking to the Apple Store for the new iPhone 4S. Microsoft will up the marketing ante for next weekend's grand opening, transforming the parking lot between the two stores into a concert venue for performances by The Black Keys and OneRepublic. Any bets on whether the concerts will drum up more business for the Zune Market Place or the iTunes Store?"

Comments

Re:What exactly does Microsoft hope to accomplish?

[bjwest]

And xbox live is governed by corporate pigs.

And nothing Apple does is governed by corporate pigs?

Nope. Apple is governed by hipster hogs.

Found the store (not the Hut)

[93 Escort Wagon]

There's a post in the Seattle PI's "Microsoft Blog" that shows the location for the actual store - it is indeed right across the parking lot from the Apple Store.

I can understand why Microsoft would want to do that, I guess, in terms of symbolism - but I think it's a terrible business mistake. Whatever you think of Microsoft and their products, you can't believe they've got the same cachet that Apple does. People aren't going to be hunting them out - but MS has picked a spot with seriously bad visibility from most of the mall. University Village isn't a big enclosed mall - it's an open-air space where most of the shops are scattered among smaller buildings that open straight onto parking lots. The Apple Store is on a side lot that's set back somewhat, but it at least is visible as people are driving through the lot from the 25th Avenue entrance (plus people are going to be looking for them anyway). Someone coming from that entrance and driving straight in won't even see the Microsoft Store - as they pass that side lot, the MS Store will be behind their left shoulder while the Apple Store will be in front of them.

Re:A parade and a funeral

[ozmanjusri]

To be honest, they're pretty slick.

I've seen this comment about a lot of MS products lately, like the Office ribbon, Win 7/8, Mango, etc. Problem is, once you press the Microsoft evangelists on what they actually DO better, they can't tell you (and instead just get their mod-squad to downvote the comment to oblivion). As a result, Kinect is one of the rare products they have which is even vaguely inspiring.

Between that, and antics like this Kinect-hut, you'd have to say Apple has spooked them so thoroughly they're putting all their efforts into making shiny products instead of effective ones.