Microsoft is going retail!

[TheGreatSatan]

You'll soon see retail locations of Microsoft (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090213/tc_nm/us_microsoft)

[xRyokenx]

I hope they're not as ominous as the Apple stores... whenever I go in there I feel like I'm going to become sterile from smugness radiation, lol.

Just kidding of course, I want to see how these stores turn out. Could be cool.

[Drum Thumper]

One would think that they would have learned from Gateway and Dell.

Idiots.

Edit: This really makes me wonder if Light Bulb Larry doesn't have his hand in another honeypot. I think I'll have to do some research.

[TheGreatSatan]

Most companies never understand how expensive a brick & mortar location really is. Lighting, lease fees, and paying employees piles against your bottom line very quickly

[DaveW]

Well, it works well for apple.

-Dave

[NightrainSrt4]

Glad to see they are going to be dumping money into brick and mortar stores, which are more than likely doomed to fail, after supposedly cutting a whole bunch of employees.

It would be interesting to walk around in one, but what would you buy? A zune and a copy of Vista? All of which you could undoubtedly get cheaper elsewhere...

[Drum Thumper]

It would be interesting to walk around in one, but what would you buy? A zune and a copy of Vista? All of which you could undoubtedly get cheaper elsewhere...

I think you *might* be right, but by cutting out the middle man, they could drop prices on their products. However, I'm not going to hold my breath.

And I have found no connection between Microsoft and Larry Johnston. Yet.

[xmastree]

And I have found no connection between Microsoft and Larry Johnston. Yet.
Who's Larry Johnston?

[crenn]

The interesting thing I think is that Apple stores only sell Apple products, where a Microsoft store could potentially sell a lot more products over a lot wider price range. ie $200-5000 products. Why? Because Microsoft licences their software to other hardware manufacturers. They produce the hardware, load it up with Microsoft's software, and then Microsoft can sell it in their stores (maybe with a little bit of a discount to make it attractive). So all in all, this could work for Microsoft, depending on how they do it.
btw, there might be XBox 360s in their store to buy as well, so it won't only be Vista and Zune, they can offer a lot more than Apple.

[Drum Thumper]

Who's Larry Johnston?

Former CEO of General Electric and Albertsons. Considered by every Albertsons employee who has been employeed since 2001 to be the biggest reason why Albertsons failed epically, leading to the buyout by Supervalu (yet another can of worms). I met him once. Easily the most arrogant SOB I've ever had the mispleasure of meeting, and I've met my share of arrogant bastards.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Edit: Here's some reading material (http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/5581/C108/L108).

[xmastree]

General Electric Albertsons, Supervalu
But none of those names appear in the linked article. Are you in the right thread?

[Drum Thumper]

But none of those names appear in the linked article. Are you in the right thread?

Call it a gut reaction if you like. Light Bulb Larry had no retail experience before taking over at Albertsons.

Microsoft has no retail experience.

Now do you see where I'm coming from?

[chaksq]

I should open up a retail chain and sell Linux machines.

[NightrainSrt4]

Why? Because Microsoft licences their software to other hardware manufacturers. They produce the hardware, load it up with Microsoft's software, and then Microsoft can sell it in their stores (maybe with a little bit of a discount to make it attractive).

I overlooked the Xbox thing, but how much cheaper could they sell them currently? A few bucks? Retail chains pay almost exactly the same price as the consumer pays. Unless they are going to sell the systems for a loss, I don't see the discount being all that great for a customer.

I'm not sure how many pc companies would have their rigs in a Microsoft store. Maybe for more exposure, but I don't see them competing well in price. The only incentive I see here would be if Microsoft gave a deep discount on/free licenses to the manufacturers for the OS for the products if they are allowed to sell them in their store. That could make makers consider selling in the store I suppose.

With the Walmarts of the world, and other cheap retailers, I just don't see how they can win on price, and if they do beat out other retailers prices how lucrative could that be? If they are going to sell premium type products I'm curious how they are to survive. The premium market seems to me to be quite a niche market, especially today. Techies will build their own, regular people go to a cheap retailer, and premium prebuilts generally seem to be for people with too much money to burn, which appears to be shrinking with the perceived economy.

It's probably more for brand presence than actually being super profitable. I doubt these stores will make it to malls that don't have an apple store.

[TheGreatSatan]

It would be profitable if say a new Zune came out and it was only available in their store for a set time before everywhere else. They could also have XBox paint variants only available in the store

[Eclecticos]

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5310/microsoftretailexperiensc9.jpg

I think all they need now is lights, music, and a dicso ball.
Will be a happening joint, fo sho. :D

[TheGreatSatan]

Purty!

[NightrainSrt4]

Kind of reminds you of a certain other store in design, no?

[nevermind1534]

Kind of reminds you of a certain other store in design, no?

Very similar; maybe a little less white, but pretty close.

[rithunder916]

Less smug radiation....haha, anyway as for the ms store, that could be pretty cool. They could even turn it into training places for microsoft certs.. the x360 would have to be there, as well as games, and what not. the Zune has it's place too, and if they did it right, they could easily be very successfull, especially if Microsoft teams up with a computer company to sell computers in their store.

[DaveW]

Kind of reminds you of a certain other store in design, no?

My thoughts exactly. Oh god, the apple fanboys are going to have a field day with this. As if they weren't insufferable enough as it is. For the record, I despise most fanboys, not just apple airheads.
-Dave