This is the absolute personification of Sadistic personality disorder on Ballmer part.
Could he make any more completely incompetent choices with a complete display of the lack of business sense?
Riding on the coat tails of the competition is very poor judgement but they are #2 now, so what do you expect? It's like positioning your second (or third) rate hamburger joint across from a White Castle! or better yet across from The Russian Tea Room in NYC.
It's now June 10 and they're finally opening their 4th outlet? How many stores around the world did Apple open in their first year and some months? Looks like a winning strategy for MS.
I know you are trying to be funny, but they opened around 30 stores in their first year, and all within the one country, they didn't open a store outside the USA for 2.5 years, and took around four years to get to Canada.
It's a male voice, I think. Gruff but a tenor. Sounds like a gym teacher.
No, it's Ballmer, saying, "Gotcha! Ha! Think you're smart Apple! I'm going to put one of my stores right along yours. Ha! That'll show you! And it'll show you even more two years later... when we have to close. It was an experiment in innovation!"
I may take some flack for this, but in spite of their overwhelming success and popularity, I don't consider most of the Apple stores (especially the mall stores) to be all that special. So they're brightly lit, have parsons tables and lighted displays on the walls....big deal. And they charge list price for everything. Why would I buy a third-party accessory in an Apple store when I could get it for less elsewhere?
Um, Isn't that the point? They CAN charge list. People pay that. In fact, the Apple Stores are the most profitable per square foot on the entire retail spectrum. NOBODY makes a bigger profit.
Not that I care much about that, but your boredom with Apple Stores just isn't all that important.
I did some temp work on the weekends once upon a time at the retail stores they were trying to operate in. The Macs were tossed in the back, or there was one table for them, and most of the time, they were partially broken, and they were not attached to the Internet. The stores were a gamble, but they raised their profile. At my local store, the Glendale Galleria, the Apple Store is the busiest store in the mall. There are three or four tables of iPads, and every one was full of people trying it out last Thursday when I went to make a reservation for a help appointment. All the Macs were working, connected to WiFi. The clerks were very helpful, but not pushy. It was great.
Um, Isn't that the point? They CAN charge list. People pay that. In fact, the Apple Stores are the most profitable per square foot on the entire retail spectrum. NOBODY makes a bigger profit.
Not that I care much about that, but your boredom with Apple Stores just isn't all that important.
I did some temp work on the weekends once upon a time at the retail stores they were trying to operate in. The Macs were tossed in the back, or there was one table for them, and most of the time, they were partially broken, and they were not attached to the Internet. The stores were a gamble, but they raised their profile. At my local store, the Glendale Galleria, the Apple Store is the busiest store in the mall. There are three or four tables of iPads, and every one was full of people trying it out last Thursday when I went to make a reservation for a help appointment. All the Macs were working, connected to WiFi. The clerks were very helpful, but not pushy. It was great.
I'd be curious to see how Apple manages their contracts fro these stores. While it's not a Bloomingdales of Neiman Marcus they are, for all intents and purposes, an anchor store because they do bring people to the mall.
Perhaps even more so than your typical anchor stores because most Apple Stores are likely inside the mall thus requiring the potential consumer to pass many other stores on the way in an out of the mall, whereas the typical anchor store has it's own access to the outside.
I bet Apple has been using this data to get lower lease fees and subsequently the surrounding stores are being charged more for being next to the Apple Store.
Remember when the pundits were saying how Apple was foolish for opening stores after Dell, Sony and (especially) Gateway have had such a bad time of it?
"Has anyone ever gone to Best Buy, tried out a computer, and then realized they had either set something up wrong or one of the advertised features wasn't hooked up?"
Yes, indeed. But... at least the Macs and iPads work in my local Best Buy
Give Microsoft credit for one thing - the store concept is so alien to their core business, direct customers and products that at least they haven't squandered zigabucks of their shareholders' money in a huge rollout. There's a reason for only four stores all this time after the original rollout. They don't understand how stores help them and all they can do is offer technical support for everybody else's hardware using their software. The way it's set up, it's not really a store; it's a display room and a consultancy rolled up into one. But who are the patrons? I don't think Microsoft really knows.
I've seen at least two huge businesses run into similar brick walls when they tried to open new store concepts. Remember Gateway, now practically disappeared from the computer scene? Once a promising direct sales competitor to Dell, they tried to goose their business with a huge and costly retail store expansion. For six years they squandered huge sums on locations that essentially sold only their own PC models, ultimately failing against the big box electronics category killers like Best Buy that offered much wider choices of brands and models. If Gateway was looking at Ford, Toyota and Cadillac to emulate, they were looking at the wrong product/marketing concept. They should have been warned off by the single-line TV retail stores of Muntz and Curtis Mathes.
Apple Stores succeeded by deliberate differentiation - by pushing an alternative computer concept that was superior in many ways to the IBM-Microsoft PC clones, and by inventing a wholly new portable music business with the iPod. The Apple Stores supported sales by offering customers experiences and information that they weren't getting about Apple products from the big box stores.
Many have forgotten the ill-fated foray of McDonald's into roast chicken dinners. First they tried to emulate the success of Boston Market (originally Boston Chicken) with a home-grown competitor. I know, because they opened up ONE retail test-bed store in my town, approximately 10 miles away from Mickey D world headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. They fooled around with the concept for a year or so before folding it. I was there one night when a table of young eager beavers sat at a corner table and rather vocally criticized how the operation was running. It soon became obvious that they were a young executive crew from Boston Chicken out on a scouting trip.
A few years later, in 2000, McDonald's ended up buying Boston Market, not having learned anything from its earlier experience. Seven years of sideways results finally convinced the hamburger guys that they should stick to their core competency, so once again BM was set out on its own.
The lessons? In corporate strategy, imitation is seldom the sincerest form of flattery. It's more likely the sincerest indicator of corporate shortsightedness, lack of imagination and irrational desperation at the top. Microsoft folks have probably learned enough already. If their retail stores make it another year, I'll be surprised.
McDonalds did eventually get the product formula and differentiation right. Ever go to a Panera Bread?
Anyone know if I can take a pre-installed copy of Windows back to the Microsoft store and get a refund? I don't have any, but just asking for all the Windows users who wish they could return it.
I can hear the chants now above the music: "Lame-O! Lame-O!" At least they're somewhat in sync, I guess... Not destined to set the floor on fire, however.
Personally, I don't think Windoze is anything to inspire dancing - even weak, dorky dancing. (Stop that, it's soooooooo embarrassing. And I love how some customers are trying to ignore it all and have a "normal" shopping experience, despite the staff's "best" attempts at other-than-normal.)
The red-shirts look like members of the Enterprise crew:
By the same logic, "elves" would be "elfs," and that just looks ridiculous.
"Lemme go to the 'Keebler Elfs' for my cookies..." -- they'd punch me in the mouth!
(The answer, for those playing along at home: you just cited the man who initiated the use of "dwarves" instead of "dwarfs." Yup, try to put out that fire with gasoline...)
The funny thing is that the employees seem to outnumber the customers about 2:1. And look at all those unused computers. You can't even get into an Apple store on opening day, much less get access to a computer.
I'm sorry, but you made my night by walking into that one -- I almost DIED laughing!
Hey, no prob (and believe me, I'm not going to shoot anyone for using "dwarfs" at his/her discretion) -- you could have had some edition where an over-zealous editor reversed Dr. Tolkien's linguistic practices! (Note: I know of no such edition, and I'm an unapologetic Tolkien dork. ) Fantasy writers in general have been following his lead ever since.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
The funny thing is that the employees seem to outnumber the customers about 2:1. And look at all those unused computers. You can't even get into an Apple store on opening day, much less get access to a computer.
Yeah, that scene was pretty pathetic. Even on slow days, the Apple employees surely have better things to do at their jobs than dance a weak "Macarena"-style thingamajig.
I guess "Ms. Green Shirt" is the leader of this farce...
And I especially like the dude in black who pops in at 0:48 -- that would, without a doubt, be my response, too!
If this is such a non threat (Correct) why so many responses?
Because everyone loves the story of the bright and energetic "Think Different" company that rises from near ashes to become THE most exciting and innovative company that turns around and slays the monolithic Goliath.
Because all Apple fans are sick and tired of how Microsoft bamboozled the masses into thinking they were innovative when, in fact, they are just a bunch of copycats that happened to have a somewhat similar product that fit cheap crap PCs.
Because Microsoft is, once again, simply copying Apple's success and hoping that the masses won't notice that, in reality, they couldn't innovate their way out of a paper sack.
I give it 2 more years before Microsoft shareholders are screaming for Balmer's head on a platter.
I can hear the chants now above the music: "Lame-O! Lame-O!" At least they're somewhat in sync, I guess... Not destined to set the floor on fire, however.
Personally, I don't think Windoze is anything to inspire dancing - even weak, dorky dancing. (Stop that, it's soooooooo embarrassing. And I love how some customers are trying to ignore it all and have a "normal" shopping experience, despite the staff's "best" attempts at other-than-normal.)
The red-shirts look like members of the Enterprise crew:
To boldy FAIL where no one has failed before!
I'm sure they had fun dancing. They had so much fun and so distracted they didn't even realize they're being robbed on broad day light. Right around 2:16 or so on the video. I think the chick in there just stole something..
I SWEAR DUDE THE CHICK IN WHITE JUST GRABBED SOMETHING AND PUT IT IN HER BAG! THIS VIDEO IS EVIDENCE TO A CRIME. You gotta check it out and stop it right around 2:15. I had to back and forth coz I thought I was seeing things. This is hilarious..
Comments
Could he make any more completely incompetent choices with a complete display of the lack of business sense?
Riding on the coat tails of the competition is very poor judgement but they are #2 now, so what do you expect? It's like positioning your second (or third) rate hamburger joint across from a White Castle!
Cheers
It's now June 10 and they're finally opening their 4th outlet? How many stores around the world did Apple open in their first year and some months? Looks like a winning strategy for MS.
I know you are trying to be funny, but they opened around 30 stores in their first year, and all within the one country, they didn't open a store outside the USA for 2.5 years, and took around four years to get to Canada.
No, it's Ballmer, saying, "Gotcha! Ha! Think you're smart Apple! I'm going to put one of my stores right along yours. Ha! That'll show you! And it'll show you even more two years later... when we have to close. It was an experiment in innovation!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSAXEVXvNz8
I may take some flack for this, but in spite of their overwhelming success and popularity, I don't consider most of the Apple stores (especially the mall stores) to be all that special. So they're brightly lit, have parsons tables and lighted displays on the walls....big deal. And they charge list price for everything. Why would I buy a third-party accessory in an Apple store when I could get it for less elsewhere?
Um, Isn't that the point? They CAN charge list. People pay that. In fact, the Apple Stores are the most profitable per square foot on the entire retail spectrum. NOBODY makes a bigger profit.
Not that I care much about that, but your boredom with Apple Stores just isn't all that important.
I did some temp work on the weekends once upon a time at the retail stores they were trying to operate in. The Macs were tossed in the back, or there was one table for them, and most of the time, they were partially broken, and they were not attached to the Internet. The stores were a gamble, but they raised their profile. At my local store, the Glendale Galleria, the Apple Store is the busiest store in the mall. There are three or four tables of iPads, and every one was full of people trying it out last Thursday when I went to make a reservation for a help appointment. All the Macs were working, connected to WiFi. The clerks were very helpful, but not pushy. It was great.
Um, Isn't that the point? They CAN charge list. People pay that. In fact, the Apple Stores are the most profitable per square foot on the entire retail spectrum. NOBODY makes a bigger profit.
Not that I care much about that, but your boredom with Apple Stores just isn't all that important.
I did some temp work on the weekends once upon a time at the retail stores they were trying to operate in. The Macs were tossed in the back, or there was one table for them, and most of the time, they were partially broken, and they were not attached to the Internet. The stores were a gamble, but they raised their profile. At my local store, the Glendale Galleria, the Apple Store is the busiest store in the mall. There are three or four tables of iPads, and every one was full of people trying it out last Thursday when I went to make a reservation for a help appointment. All the Macs were working, connected to WiFi. The clerks were very helpful, but not pushy. It was great.
I'd be curious to see how Apple manages their contracts fro these stores. While it's not a Bloomingdales of Neiman Marcus they are, for all intents and purposes, an anchor store because they do bring people to the mall.
Perhaps even more so than your typical anchor stores because most Apple Stores are likely inside the mall thus requiring the potential consumer to pass many other stores on the way in an out of the mall, whereas the typical anchor store has it's own access to the outside.
I bet Apple has been using this data to get lower lease fees and subsequently the surrounding stores are being charged more for being next to the Apple Store.
Remember when the pundits were saying how Apple was foolish for opening stores after Dell, Sony and (especially) Gateway have had such a bad time of it?
So what does the Microsoft store sell exactly?
Xbox 360, Mice, Keyboards, Webcams plus other hardware and software. Oh! and the most popular OS and Office Suite.
Xbox 360, Mice, Keyboards, Webcams plus other hardware and software. Oh! and the most popular OS and Office Suite.
They also sell PCs from the major vendors. The benefit is that they reportedly don't come with pre-installed crapware, except for MS's SW.
Yes, indeed. But... at least the Macs and iPads work in my local Best Buy
Give Microsoft credit for one thing - the store concept is so alien to their core business, direct customers and products that at least they haven't squandered zigabucks of their shareholders' money in a huge rollout. There's a reason for only four stores all this time after the original rollout. They don't understand how stores help them and all they can do is offer technical support for everybody else's hardware using their software. The way it's set up, it's not really a store; it's a display room and a consultancy rolled up into one. But who are the patrons? I don't think Microsoft really knows.
I've seen at least two huge businesses run into similar brick walls when they tried to open new store concepts. Remember Gateway, now practically disappeared from the computer scene? Once a promising direct sales competitor to Dell, they tried to goose their business with a huge and costly retail store expansion. For six years they squandered huge sums on locations that essentially sold only their own PC models, ultimately failing against the big box electronics category killers like Best Buy that offered much wider choices of brands and models. If Gateway was looking at Ford, Toyota and Cadillac to emulate, they were looking at the wrong product/marketing concept. They should have been warned off by the single-line TV retail stores of Muntz and Curtis Mathes.
Apple Stores succeeded by deliberate differentiation - by pushing an alternative computer concept that was superior in many ways to the IBM-Microsoft PC clones, and by inventing a wholly new portable music business with the iPod. The Apple Stores supported sales by offering customers experiences and information that they weren't getting about Apple products from the big box stores.
Many have forgotten the ill-fated foray of McDonald's into roast chicken dinners. First they tried to emulate the success of Boston Market (originally Boston Chicken) with a home-grown competitor. I know, because they opened up ONE retail test-bed store in my town, approximately 10 miles away from Mickey D world headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. They fooled around with the concept for a year or so before folding it. I was there one night when a table of young eager beavers sat at a corner table and rather vocally criticized how the operation was running. It soon became obvious that they were a young executive crew from Boston Chicken out on a scouting trip.
A few years later, in 2000, McDonald's ended up buying Boston Market, not having learned anything from its earlier experience. Seven years of sideways results finally convinced the hamburger guys that they should stick to their core competency, so once again BM was set out on its own.
The lessons? In corporate strategy, imitation is seldom the sincerest form of flattery. It's more likely the sincerest indicator of corporate shortsightedness, lack of imagination and irrational desperation at the top. Microsoft folks have probably learned enough already. If their retail stores make it another year, I'll be surprised.
McDonalds did eventually get the product formula and differentiation right. Ever go to a Panera Bread?
The genius of Microsoft marketing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSAXEVXvNz8
I can hear the chants now above the music: "Lame-O! Lame-O!" At least they're somewhat in sync, I guess... Not destined to set the floor on fire, however.
Personally, I don't think Windoze is anything to inspire dancing - even weak, dorky dancing. (Stop that, it's soooooooo embarrassing. And I love how some customers are trying to ignore it all and have a "normal" shopping experience, despite the staff's "best" attempts at other-than-normal.)
The red-shirts look like members of the Enterprise crew:
To boldy FAIL where no one has failed before!
Oh, goodness no -- you're JOKING, right?
I suggest you go IMMEDIATELY and check the texts.
By the same logic, "elves" would be "elfs," and that just looks ridiculous.
"Lemme go to the 'Keebler Elfs' for my cookies..." -- they'd punch me in the mouth!
(The answer, for those playing along at home: you just cited the man who initiated the use of "dwarves" instead of "dwarfs." Yup, try to put out that fire with gasoline...)
My bad.
The genius of Microsoft marketing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSAXEVXvNz8
The funny thing is that the employees seem to outnumber the customers about 2:1. And look at all those unused computers. You can't even get into an Apple store on opening day, much less get access to a computer.
If this is such a non threat (Correct) why so many responses?
Because it's another laughable Microsoft story. Commenting on MS' lameness is simply a fun diversion.
My bad.
I'm sorry, but you made my night by walking into that one -- I almost DIED laughing!
Hey, no prob (and believe me, I'm not going to shoot anyone for using "dwarfs" at his/her discretion) -- you could have had some edition where an over-zealous editor reversed Dr. Tolkien's linguistic practices! (Note: I know of no such edition, and I'm an unapologetic Tolkien dork.
The funny thing is that the employees seem to outnumber the customers about 2:1. And look at all those unused computers. You can't even get into an Apple store on opening day, much less get access to a computer.
Yeah, that scene was pretty pathetic. Even on slow days, the Apple employees surely have better things to do at their jobs than dance a weak "Macarena"-style thingamajig.
I guess "Ms. Green Shirt" is the leader of this farce...
And I especially like the dude in black who pops in at 0:48 -- that would, without a doubt, be my response, too!
They should get quite a good flow of customers through their doors.
If this is such a non threat (Correct) why so many responses?
Because everyone loves the story of the bright and energetic "Think Different" company that rises from near ashes to become THE most exciting and innovative company that turns around and slays the monolithic Goliath.
Because all Apple fans are sick and tired of how Microsoft bamboozled the masses into thinking they were innovative when, in fact, they are just a bunch of copycats that happened to have a somewhat similar product that fit cheap crap PCs.
Because Microsoft is, once again, simply copying Apple's success and hoping that the masses won't notice that, in reality, they couldn't innovate their way out of a paper sack.
I give it 2 more years before Microsoft shareholders are screaming for Balmer's head on a platter.
Mark
I can hear the chants now above the music: "Lame-O! Lame-O!" At least they're somewhat in sync, I guess... Not destined to set the floor on fire, however.
Personally, I don't think Windoze is anything to inspire dancing - even weak, dorky dancing. (Stop that, it's soooooooo embarrassing. And I love how some customers are trying to ignore it all and have a "normal" shopping experience, despite the staff's "best" attempts at other-than-normal.)
The red-shirts look like members of the Enterprise crew:
To boldy FAIL where no one has failed before!
I'm sure they had fun dancing. They had so much fun and so distracted they didn't even realize they're being robbed on broad day light. Right around 2:16 or so on the video. I think the chick in there just stole something..
I SWEAR DUDE THE CHICK IN WHITE JUST GRABBED SOMETHING AND PUT IT IN HER BAG! THIS VIDEO IS EVIDENCE TO A CRIME. You gotta check it out and stop it right around 2:15. I had to back and forth coz I thought I was seeing things. This is hilarious..