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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?"
Maybe it would be best in consideration of the season and in light of current events for Microsoft's marketing department to reprise this popular event from the launch of Windows Phone.
The free concert series was a big hit for WP7 - it drew big crowds.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Spitting distance? Ballmer must have selected the location.
John
this popular event
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Zune is gone, and wasn't all that great to begin with.
Windows 7 still takes 3 hours to install anything.
Windows Phone is abysmal (we probably shouldn't go there).
And xbox live is governed by corporate pigs.
Microsoft is hundreds of miles behind Apple, and may always be.
They should probably just accept the fact that their market share will continue to dwindle.
that would be 'chair-throwing distance'. not spit.
Read radical news here
On October 20th, Microsoft will open its 14th store in Seattle's popular University Village shopping center...
Why do they need 14 stores in one shopping center?
More like more business for BT: Hey these guys have a log of good songs. I think I'll grab their whole discography.
wtf
I find it particularly interesting that their choice of performers is OneRepublic and The Black Keys. It's particularly odd because The Black Keys have some of the strongest independent credentials out there. They've been consistently published by independent labels and have really carved out their own musical niche by themselves. The idea that they're playing a concert for Microsoft is a bit... odd. I don't particularly care, however. If I was in the area I would be one of the first there for the show.
I like losing arguments, it just means that I can take your point and make it my own.
do you mean in the shiny object hipster yuppie market? Because the majority of the real world seems to show otherwise.
You obviously aren't all that familiar with the corporate world these days, which Apple has recently begun to dominate.
But Brick & Mortar stores can't possibly compete against the internet!!
I was at the Apple Store at University Village last night. It's so crowded they have a line just inside the door to match you to an associate because the ratio of customers to help was so out of whack. The MS store was draped but is directly across a small parking lot facing the Apple store. This is Seattle and the kind of people that go to see the Black Keys are not MS buyers. BUT...I'll bet big money the email goes out to every MS employee on their campus that it's their corporate responsibility to flood the place on opening weekend.
I've also worked on building several Microsoft stores throughout the country and they're kind of pathetic in their copying. All built within site of an Apple store and just have darker wood and a giant video wall. Even the uniforms are a carbon copoy. Kinda desperate move on MS's part. Plus, no way can their income pay for the sq footage of their stores. Money down a hole just to (fake) show they can keep up with Apple. The whole effort is so disingenuous.
I saw Skype character (executive) singing the praises of MS acquiring them and extolling the synergies because both Skype and MS innovated, blah, blah, blah. It was at that point I stopped the video, he had nothing meaningful to say. It was just rhetoric. MS hasn't innovated in 20 years. Windows 7 is good (whatever Mac OS X/LINUX people, it's great for gaming) but MS has drawn its revenues from product lines that are now decades old. That is not innovation.
Arguably one could give MS a point for the XBox360. However a gaming console isn't innovating. On a tangent they can be awarded points for XBox Live which is more robust for multi-player gaming and has engendered strong communities. Sony's PSN isn't as strong, something you'll consistently hear from many people, including those who cover the video game industry, e.g., Machinima.com.
There tends to be a lot of fanboy hatred against MS but the reasons people cite are generally crap. I live in Seattle and many tech people I've talked agree that MS' biggest problem is the person at the top - Steve Ballmer. He has no vision whatsoever and at best is a chief operating officer.
Ballmer can't even hire someone to find new locations for retail fronts... so what does he do, he opens stores by Apple's . Microsoft erected a big(ger) store just a few doors down from Apple's in one of the malls in the Seattle area (Bellevue Square). MS couldn't even pick some other part of the mall, it had to be close to Apple's. Wow, just wow.
We all know who the omega is here.
-M
Microsoft can have a store at every corner of every street in the world and I'd still avoid them like the plague.
I lost respect for them completely in 1997 (cratered by their previous blunders), so it'd be on par with walking into Walmart.
In fact, both have the same feel.
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
Sure, Kinect is going to make iPhone users want to buy a WP7-based phone...
Very convenent
Well played, MS.
Some people might actually watch Microsoft products -- if the line for the iPhone 4S is big enough, that is...
"monkey jump distance" ? developers sure know the exact measure of that one.
Read radical news here
Microsoft isn't usually associated with tangible objects. It's a second-thought to people when getting devices and computers whether it runs Microsoft or not. (Fx, people will get a Dell, a HP, a Toshiba... Not a "Microsoft computer"... ) So I'm trying to understand what's motivating that business model...
my best guess is they are going to be selling a bunch of different vendors products for them. If it does take off, it means device makers can rely on MS as a distribution channel of sorts. (At the very least, MS seems to suggest they will get the word out about those products.) That'd be a really good incentive for those companies to create a solid line of Windows branded stuff.
which one have you never been in, again?
Microsoft's had a Kinect hut set up on Red Square at the University of Washington for several weeks (since the week before school began). It's been popular - not "waiting in line" popular, but there's always someone playing in there. Well, hold on, there are 35,000 students at UW so maybe it's not all that popular...
In any case, I'm sure they'll get good attendance at the Kinect hut; and if they're selling games in the Microsoft Store I'm sure a goodly number of people will be in there looking. From what I've seen and heard, though, it's unlikely there'll be much crossover success with regards to Windows computers. I know several Mac users who own XBox 360s, but I've never heard any of them say "you know, I think I'll try Windows again because my gaming console is just so great!" People compartmentalize their technology. Most of the Windows admins I know own iPhones (seriously, none of them own an Android or a Windows Mobile phone) - and I've never heard any of them say "I like my phone so much, I think I'll buy a Mac!"
I'm sure a lot of customers will stop by on the way, listen to some music, maybe play a game... and then go on into the Apple Store.
#DeleteChrome
this just proves that Microsoft doesn't get it. For all there R&D dollars and for all their marketing dollars, piggybacking off of Apple places them in a poor light, a "hey look, we are relevant too" kinda light. Apart from the OS space and the occasional Windows phone, Microsoft and Apple are no longer the direct competitors they once were.
"The company has set up a temporary hut within spitting distance of the Apple store. "
And you couldn't get one photo showing how close the "hut" is to the Apple store? All I see in your photo is a white cargo box in a parking lot. That photo could have been taken anywhere on the planet. If your entire story is going to be able how incredibly close a Microsoft store/hut is to a Apple store *at least* have photos to back up your claim.
And the photos you do have are beautiful. One photo shows the Microsoft Store (that's the name on the outside of the hut) with two dark figures inside. The other photo is inside the store but it's practically a thumbnail with a resolution of 225x171. Seriously? 1998 called, it wants it's crappy photos back.
So not only did you not take a photo proving the Microsoft "Store" is within spitting distance of the Apple store, you couldn't take one decent photo of what *was* there. All kinds of fail is going on here.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Pizza Hut needs to sue their pants off.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
Microsoft is not a "cool" brand. It's the brand that people are forced to use in the office because Microsoft has essentially left no choice. This is not a good reason to buy Microsoft.
But MS does have a cool brand that it controls. It has XBox. It's even managed to give Kinect its own identity. Windows phone 7 may not be able to hook onto those, but Microsoft can create a brand. Relying on the existing brand doesn't make sense if they want to appeal to the trendsetters.
Because "Microsoft ghetto" was judged to be too uncomfortably close to the truth.
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.
#DeleteChrome
You neglected to mention that you will find products from Apple partners in the Apple store as well, not just those branded by Apple (I mean, is anything really *made* by Apple, discuss). And yes, an Apple store is an experience. I'd imagine an MS store would be less interesting, and more creepy.
Just as BurgerKIng uses McDonalds site planning and places stores near them, so Microsoft falls into the same seemingly profitable pattern. Hey! Yes Hey! Microsoft! Isn't McDonalds Bigger than Burger King??? Ever hear of first mover advantage? It applies to real estate too. If they liked your location they'd be there.
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
Hey little kiddies get on my App guess who's back with a brand new Shrink Rap? :-) People tend to group things/themselves together based on what makes them different from the norm That is way the early Nazi movement happened in bars of like minded crazies, if a city has 100 Jamaicans there will be a little Caribbean etc. Apple has the advantage here because they are the "others". Which really isn't true now because I'd suspect the majority of households in the west have at least one Apple product. But it is still perceived as different. MS is perceived as normal, "I already understand this", or even worse "that is the stuff I work on all day why would I care about it when I go home?" Apple except in some niches, mainly the cool ones creatives, science, etc, has stayed away from the office. It makes it a lot easier to convince people they are cool gadgets you go spend your own time and money on. Very few people get wood for a spreadsheet :-)
Because MS doesn't sell PCs they do at least have a lot of hardware from partners but half the problem is it costs more than in most other stores from what I've read so they're not competitive where as if you go to an Apple store it's the same prices as anywhere else admittedly that will mainly be because there are very few options for buying a Mac.
Based on what Microsoft has that it can sell to consumers, they'd be a lot smarter to locate near a GameStop than an Apple store. They XBox line is really all that they have to sell directly to consumers.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
No, the author isn't wrong at all, he's just unwittingly exposed one of the flaws of the English language...
This is not a flaw in the English language - it is quite easy to accurately communicate the information. For example: "Microsoft has 13 retail stores in the US and will open its fourteenth on 20th October in Seattle's popular University Village shopping center, where...". If you choose to write ambiguously it is not a flaw in the language but a flaw in the author.
But perfectly in keeping with the Microsoft's definition of "innovation".
I love The Black Keys. They are awesome.
But this smells like selling out.
I've been looking forward to their new record.
Now I'm afraid I'll keep seeing that fucking Windows logo in my mind's eye whenever I hear it.
Shit...
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
Should just get a room.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Amorous couples can go check out the latest Zune and squirt each other.
..for Microsoft. 'nuff said.
...has an Apple store and a Microsoft store very nearly across the same hallway from each other.
I can't stand the Mall of America but on every compulsory trip I've taken there, the Microsoft store is nearly empty. A few people (my 7 year old included) are goofing with a Kinect up front, a few losers are using the demo PCs for Facebook updates and that's it.
The Apple store on the other side of the hallway is packed, with nary a demo iPad or Mac unattended. Lots of people in the store.
In neither case did I count who walked out with stuff, but the interest level in the Apple store was high.
I thought the Microsoft store was generally attractive, but the whole idea seems unfocused. There's Microsoft products like Xbox and Zune (well, not anymore), the phone and then there's...PCs. Laptops, desktops, but they're not really selling them, well, maybe they are. You can't tell.
It felt like they were pushing the whole PC "experience" and not just the Microsoft vision of it, which even Microsoft didn't seem they could explain very well.
For full disclosure, I build my own Windows PCs but have owned more iPods and iPhones than I'd care to admit (every iPhone model from the 3G to the 4S).
I can pick up my new 27" iMac at the Apple store and go get a copy of Windows to run on Boot Camp or VMWare, all without leaving the mall. I think Microsoft has this all figured out!
Now I get to play kinect while I wait up in line for my 4GS! :D
Apple has done a remarkable job becoming establishment while maintaining their outsider credibility. It really comes about, I think, from their hippy origins and starting out in a garage. Heck, they flew a pirate flag outside their headquarters for the longest time (they may still, I don't know). When you've been the underdog your entire time in business, and have an anti-establishment culture within the company, that sort of reputation sticks, even when you've got the biggest market cap and everybody and their mother has an iPod.
And, let's face it, Apple has amazing marketing, and a real focus on cool things to do with your devices, not the devices themselves. When you go into an Apple Store, each area is set up for "solutions" not just a long row of computers as you find in most stores. You go to the music area, it's all about music. You go to the video area, it's all about video. You look at their TV ads, and the emphasis is never on specs, it's about usability and what you can do. It makes it a lot less nerdy, and a lot more approachable, to the average consumer. Apple is a huge company, but they have the personality of a scrappy little company that's cool to associate with. People want to Think Different even when everybody else is too. It's remarkable how Apple has gotten the best of both worlds and no doubt business schools will be talking about it for a long time.
We'll see how well it lasts without Steve Jobs, I guess, but I think they'll keep it going. Steve Jobs set up "Apple University" to indoctrinate employees in the culture, and certainly the team he assembled under him during his tenure as CEO are true believers.
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You
Take a few gallons of kerocene to the 'Hut'.
Spalsh'm up.
Toss a match.
Problem solved.
Ah huuu ahaa ahuuu .... Hrrrr hr rhr Hyrrr hr hrrrr.
Dude.
Homes of the frm and current CEO on Google Maps.
Adds:
Kerocene.
Cennsna 150.
Bick lighters and Vodka.
Shooters in the trees.
Ah huyuy ahryuy huyu .... Hrrrr hr hr Hrrrrr hyrrr hr Hyarrr hr rh hrrr.
What I find funny is Apple is usually associated with liberals and the stereotype is liberals are all about charity and causes. Anyways Apple is notoriously stingy when it comes to charity meanwhile Bill Gates has given away the majority of his wealth.
The premise of this article is that Microsoft is putting a store right in Apple's face. Microsoft's first store is in the Bellevue Square mall less than 100 feet from the Apple store, so this is nothing new.
I stop in both stores often to check out the latest. There are some intersting things in the Microsoft store. My iPhone 4 web browser gets very sluggish when displaying complex web pages (mmo champion specifically), as did my three Android phones (AT&T N1, Verizon Droid, Verizon Droid-X). The windows phone is much faster in this regard and quite easy to use. I havent played with enough to determine if it's as usable as an iPhone yet but it is in the same ballpark.
Elsewhere in the store Microsoft has touch screen systems for people to play with, XBox with Kinect, and the commercial Surface device (a 36" multi user touch screen thing marketed at bars). Comparing the two stores Microsoft is more inviting and is way more fun. They're beating Apple here in both product lineup and in the store's handling of customers.
Over the last many years Apple has completely humiliated Microsoft in the consumer market: The ubiquity of the iDevices and coming from behind to overtake Microsoft in market cap. You can see by comparing the two stores that's still happening: Apple's store is packed, Microsoft's is not. But looking at the product lineup, staff attitude, and the improving usability of their products I dont think Apple is leading on merit any longer.
It appears to me Microsoft has figured out what it takes to compete and is giving it the college try. They may still lose despite their merit because of market acceptance or some issues I'm not seeing. I am very curious to see how this will unfold. I do sincerely hope that they do well enough to cause some feirce competition, it would be good for us as consumers.
Soooo offtopic, and a bit misinformed. The widely-cited ending of Apple's charity program when Steve Jobs returned as CEO was because the company was going under and couldn't afford it anymore. Since they've become profitable, they've done a lot more. Apple's participated in Product Red quite heavily with their iPod lines. Steve Jobs is widely believed to have given a lot of money to cancer research before he died, but simply chose to do so anonymously so we can't be entirely sure. There may have been quite a bit of other philanthropic efforts done that we won't know about because Steve Jobs was a very private person, and nobody cares enough about the other executives there to actually find out about their charitable donations but that's not proof they haven't given anything either.
I actually find it a lot more obnoxious when these rich guys give their money away so publicly. I was raised to give to charity and not make such a big deal out of it, because then you're doing it for the right reasons, and not praise. When you are a billionaire, giving away money is literally the easiest thing you can do. You won't miss it. Let me know when Bill Gates gives up his entire net worth, leaves nothing for his family, and lives as a pauper. Then I'll consider him a saint. Until then, I'm a lot more impressed by the person making minimum wage dropping some dollar bills in the charity bucket and not telling all their friends and the media about it.
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You
I agree offtopic but I do find it interesting that Apple kept all the liberal cool without a whole lot of liberal policies like charities, work life balance perks (at least in their early days not sure about now), etc. where as MS probably the closest to "big corp" you get in tech had its founder quite his day job, give away half his net worth and go work feeding/curing sick kids full time. I guess it shows people/orgs can't be easily pigeonholed.
People want to see Win8/Metro - it will be the same UI across all MS stuff backed by the cloud. It will be interesting to see it all tied together in one place.
I was raised to give to charity and not make such a big deal out of it, because then you're doing it for the right reasons, and not praise.
Well to be fair with Bill, he publicized his donations and created his charity in an effort to get other billionaires / millionaires to also donate. And it worked - many did.
I recommend Fran's Chocolates, on the other opposite side of the parking lot from the Apple Store. No error messages, no updates, no compatibility issues.
Didn't MS kill off the Zune?
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Apple is a liberal company? You better tell Rush Limbaugh.
"Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any two" -- RFC 1925
Sounds like a modern version of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow's_mite
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Funny, Samsung did about the same thing (open a shop beside an Apple store in Australia. They were "selling" Galaxy S2 for 2 dollars unlocked ...
Are they even relevant anymore?
He's known it from the start, but never made any decisions based on that bias of theirs. That way, even Bill Gates was/is a Liberal, and when you go to Unix/FOSS/GNU, you have a mix - from Stallman to Raymond to McNealy. So no point making computing decisions based on the politics of the company chiefs.
I've often wondered about hanging around outside places to get customers. But I always shyed away think I might get sued or beaten off. I have to remember this story! This is a great reminder that capitalism & competition doesn't have values, so why not? Shameless!
A blog I run for the wealth
.. is already a Microsoft store, except for the Apple stores of course. What's Microsoft going to do differently? Sell t-shirts?
microsoft: we'll show them - put an ugly, pre-form shack (that might be confused with a windshield repair 'shop') across from the apple store !!!
apple: oh noz they dinnt- ohhh, look how cheap it is ! (biiiiiig grinnnn)
microsoft: we're not cheap, or ugly- WE HAVE A FREE CONCERT COMING BITCHES !!!! wp7 will own your iphone !!
apple: even bigger grin, whispering to the hotter female employees "get ready to hand out free bottled water and free $10 itunes cards, on the sidewalk the second the concert starts. dance a little!" wink wink
microsoft: our concert is rockin ! look at all the sheeple loving on us !!!
apple: wait for it.... waiiiiiiit.....
The football jock, or whatever sports person takes the stage to say something 'cool' about windoze... and the crowd takes three giant steps back. One person realizes he's still holding his free itunes card... and bumps his buddy on the way back to the apple stores....
apple hottie chick, sweaty from dancin and smilin: "Welcome back, what can I do for you?"
customer: ya, i need a new iphone
apple hottie chick: "OK ! Lets go get one !"
sale, and a fail, all in one city block. awesome
Apple is a publicly traded company. Bill Gates is a real person who can, if he choose to do so, exchange his entire fortune for a Twinkie. I'm kind of happy that the SEC would frown on a publicly traded company that decided to emulate Gates' largesse, and I love Twinkies.
Yes, you can accurately communicate the information, but you have to add 10-50% more words (or worse) to do so. That sounds like a "flaw" to me.
If the goal of a language is to communicate in the fewest number of grunts possible then every natively spoken tongue on the planet is extremely flawed. Given that no real language seem to be designed to optimize this (I suppose there might be some strange invented ones but even ones like esperanto don't seem to have this as their primary goal) I'd suggest that this is, in fact, NOT the primary aim of a language and so it cannot be said to be a flaw.
What are they trying to get from this?
1) Who walks to a B&M store to wait in line these days?
2) Do they think they can sidetrack the type of person that is going to the apple store to go to their store for something?
I may 'be a mac' -- but I have *no* idea who these throngs of neophytes and loungers are when I am forced to go to an apple store to get something at full price because I need it *now* and no one else in town carries something.
Given the level of sophistication in MS product, I would exepct their storefronts to demonstrate a similar technology level.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
Seeing as how ms has lost the most valuable member of their creative team, they must be getting desperate.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran