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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?"
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?
And xbox live is governed by corporate pigs.
And nothing Apple does is governed by corporate pigs?
Nope. Apple is governed by hipster hogs.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
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.
For MS it might not be so much a store but a means to get mind share. Apple has lots of cool gadgets. Microsoft: Xbox 360 and ... no that's it. The rest is productivity stuff, and large corporate software. Sure there are games, there are phones running WinPhone etc.but it won't be nearly the same experience as an Apple store where you go in and see one companies shinny products I think. Where it could help Microsoft is give the brand a "face". "I like Office better than LibreOffice because that nice guy in the store spent an hour showing me how to use it" kind of thing.
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
I completely forgot about their stores and didn't realise any opened. I tried looking on the net and there isn't much being said about them. The only thing I found were these.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/26/business/la-fi-microsoft-stores-20101126
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/11/26/lost-in-translation-microsoft-retail-stores-not-matching-apple/
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/229401433
The gist of them seem to be that Microsoft is copying Apple so they have the same look but unlike the Apple store the MS stores aren't a good value because they don't carry as much stock and can't compete on price with other shops carrying Windows based computers.
That's always going to be a problem for them. They aren't a hardware company (for the most part) so unlike Apple they don't have a ncie small set of hardware that they can offer at the best price available. Apple computers may cost more than Wintel machines but when you go to an Apple store the price of the Mac is the best price you can get for a mac without a student discount.
You go into a Microsoft store and you see PCs that you can get elsewhere for cheaper. Where's the incentive to buy from Microsoft? Imo, their stores will die out quietly or they'll just sell them to someone who can offer a better deal and probably ask to keep the branding.
Nope, squirting distance...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
I think Microsoft realises it's not cool and that on PCs it has its position purely because of its legacy support.
What else do they have?
Kin - failure
Zune - Failure
Windows Phone 7 - it's creaking along gaining a tiny bit of market share one month and losing market share another
Kinect - everyone except gamers seem to like them and buy them. At least they're selling them but I'm not sure I'd want to make Kinect games.
Xbox - It's a success in that it's not losing money but is that because it's awesome or because everything is an expensive proprietary add-on and its whole online model is built around milking you for money (ie MS points, subscription based, no web browser and most services requiring a Gold account) and even then it's only really a success in North America. Because of this the Wii has blasted right past it to first place and despite all of Sony's monumental fuck ups and launching 1 year later MS only lead of a few million over Sony. Any little foul up in the next generation could leave them dead last. They could still end up in 3rd place in this generation if it lasts much longer.
Microsoft using legacy support to tie users to their OS worked really well for Windows. Windows will probably always be number 1 for at least another decade. But I think they've really damaged their reputation with Windows. Allowing OEMs to install any sort of crap on top of Windows and allowing them to put it on machines that weren't really up to the job of running it just makes windows look bad. So I think when people don't require some legacy Windows app they go elsewhere.
Some of those people I think are then realising that actually they don't need Windows, love their iphone and then get a Mac so Apple's market share has been creeping up even if there isn't any chance of it over taking MS any time soon. So I think they are a bit scared with times changing and think having a propaganda to push nothing but Windows will some how help.
In a way I think it will only hurt because from everything I've read MS stores seem to be (or were) more expensive for Wintel machines so they'll end up looking like they're ripping off customers.
What original thought did Microsoft have 10 years ago? Even 20 or 30? Microsoft has actually built some good software on occasion, but they have never had an original thought since Bill Gates wrote a BASIC interpreter on paper tape in 1975.
Actually, MSR has plenty of original thoughts, but what just like Vegas, whatever happens in MSR stays in MSR.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
...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).
> Apple retails stores do seem profitable.
You don't know how right you are. They are, in fact, more profitable per square foot than any other retail store, period. "... more than six times the revenue per square foot at Neiman Marcus, four times that of Best Buy, and about one and a half times that at Tiffany's"
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
In other words, Microsoft's sells the same hardware as everyone else, but they mark up the price and remove all of the extras that other computer manufacturer's include for free.
Yes, I know that most of the extras that OEMs add to their computers are crapware, but try explaining that to your average consumer without mentioning that the trial version of MS Office (that probably ships on the Microsoft Signature version) also fits into the same boat.
My guess is that these stores simply drive people right into Apple's arms. Apple's ridiculous prices almost certainly seem less ridiculous when compared to Microsoft's premium prices. The fact of the matter is that most Windows users don't actually want to use Windows. They just can't quite justify buying a Mac. Jacking up the prices on PCs is not likely to help.
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
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.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."