They aren't side by side. The Apple Store is on the upper level and the Microsoft on the lower level, and about 100 yards apart. Just being a stickler. Apple Store there always busy, Microsoft not, except for kids outside the store playing Just Dance 2015 on the XBox wall.
By "side by side" I mean within the same mall. Not taken literally
It is very simple. This shows that ppl with Apple products don't know how to use them or they always have problems with their products and so they go to Apple stores to get help and also play games or surf the web for free.
I have been using color macs since 1987. A period of almost 28 years. I am an Apple fan.
Microsoft has a strong business and does not serve the same role as Apple does. Microsoft is still the business enterprise solution. Apple is still the home and educational computing (to an extent) leader.
They are both unspeakably, unimaginably rich. Now that iOS has addicted much of the world's population, fine. But Enterprise is just as addicted to MSFT. You will be paying MSFT for the next fifty years. Assuming any of us lives that long. Apple will never die, I think, but I am damn sure Microsoft will never die either.
Making fun of one or the other... please. It is 100% certain you (and I) are nothing compared to either Apple or MSFT.
It never ceases to amaze me how brainwashed some people can be.
As a customer and focusing only on the customer experience, why would you ever prefer a store packed with people to another one where there is a ratio of 1 employee to 1 customer? This is even more pertaining since it is a flagship store, a place where you are able to have the possible best retail experience.
Truth be told you can get that experience on an Apple store. Just make sure you buy the gold version of the apple watch.
I doubt anyone wants to buy a generic laptop from a Microsoft store and that's why their stores are so empty.
Reading up on Microsoft's event yesterday, it feels like Microsoft will soon have enough products of its own to justify the stores though. If I was in the market for a Surface tablet, Surface Book laptop, Lumia phone or Band, I'd definitely hit up a Microsoft store first.
I'm not a MSFT fanboy, but the store at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD always seems pretty busy (as does the Apple Store in the same mall.) The X-Box kiosks in the mall usually have a crowd watching kids play some dancing game - not bad.
MSFT jumped the gun on these IMO, opening up too many too early. Now that they're making more hardware, however, I think they'll see an increase in traffic. Certainly won't be anywhere near Apple levels, but they'll get some interest from the new laptop and Lumia handsets
I was at a Buckhead Atlanta mall last week, and it was the first time I have seen the two stores side by side. Was quite funny, Apple was rammed, MS store was empty.
Haha...yeah the stores at Lenox serve as quite a contrast, no?
What problem is the Microsoft retail stores trying to solve? What is their purpose? It's not like the PC world doesn't know what Microsoft is. Or what Windows or Xbox or Office is. Microsoft has enjoyed majority market & mind share long before they opened their first Microsoft Store. Is it just copying for copying sake?
Yes, knowing what Microsoft is is the company's problem. If you grew up in the 90s or 00s, Microsoft was the company that:
- brought you the blue screen of death. Regularly. Until Windows XP
- IRQ conflicts. You wanted to install a new peripheral or card? You had to be a Jedi master in understanding your hardware and their BIOS settings.
- Easily infected OS. Remember the stories of how many seconds it took for a clean, unpatched Windows XP machine to be infected once connected to the Internet? Even today Microsoft still doesn't provide decent malware defense, instead everyone has to run a 3rd party antivirus product.
- Nickel and dimed to death: $79+ for an OS upgrade. Oh you want this-or-that feature? You'll have to buy the "Professional" version. $450 for a productivity suite (MS Office). Which the PC OEMs used to throw in in the 90s, but it got too expensive for them, so they quit doing that.
Yeah, Microsoft's reputation precedes it. Windows was unavoidable and dominated everything. Once people started having a choice with smartphone operating systems, tablets, etc. they couldn't jump ship fast enough. That's why Windows phone has only 2.9% U.S. market share. The Xbox is the only Microsoft product I can think of that a large number of the public actually want / choose to use. Everything else from MS before it was like Soviet Russia bread and milk (consume it or starve yourself, your only choices pretty much). Except you got to pay for the privilege of using it.
Bottom line: there are a lot of people in their 30s on up who feel wronged in some way by Microsoft. That's a heck of a lot to overcome.
I am still amazed how brainwashed some people can be…
In a consumer perspective, how is a non-crowded store a bad thing?
If we are considering a flagship store, which seems to be the case, and there is a guarantee of the best possible service, what seems to be the problem in having a 1 to 1 ratio of employees to customers?
Even Apple seems to understand that concept of luxury.
If you want to try it just make sure to order the gold version of their watch on your next visit to an Apple Store.
Same thing at the mall near where I live -- there's an Apple store and a Microsoft store. I always make a point to walk past the Microsoft store to see if there is any real traffic in there. Never more than maybe 5 customers in there and they're outnumbered by the employees. I don't even know how they break even on the retail space in this mall, as it's very expensive in that mall. OTOH, the Apple store is always packed -- weekdays or weekends, doesn't matter.
Exactly what I saw at Christiana Mall, Newark, DE last Monday at 4pm. The MS store was totally devoid of customers. The Apple Store was busy.
People were buying stuff myself included.
MS really has a lot of work to do to even get anywhere near Apple in terms of retail profitability.
Comments
Microsoft opening a store is like Shell opening a car dealership. Never going to work.
They aren't side by side. The Apple Store is on the upper level and the Microsoft on the lower level, and about 100 yards apart. Just being a stickler. Apple Store there always busy, Microsoft not, except for kids outside the store playing Just Dance 2015 on the XBox wall.
By "side by side" I mean within the same mall. Not taken literally
I like him and generally agree with his stance, but i never see any articles from him that aren't also hit pieces on some Apple competitor.
It has the reverse effect on me, I fail over laughing.
I have been using color macs since 1987. A period of almost 28 years. I am an Apple fan.
Microsoft has a strong business and does not serve the same role as Apple does. Microsoft is still the business enterprise solution. Apple is still the home and educational computing (to an extent) leader.
They are both unspeakably, unimaginably rich. Now that iOS has addicted much of the world's population, fine. But Enterprise is just as addicted to MSFT. You will be paying MSFT for the next fifty years. Assuming any of us lives that long. Apple will never die, I think, but I am damn sure Microsoft will never die either.
Making fun of one or the other... please. It is 100% certain you (and I) are nothing compared to either Apple or MSFT.
As a customer and focusing only on the customer experience, why would you ever prefer a store packed with people to another one where there is a ratio of 1 employee to 1 customer?
This is even more pertaining since it is a flagship store, a place where you are able to have the possible best retail experience.
Truth be told you can get that experience on an Apple store. Just make sure you buy the gold version of the apple watch.
Hilarious%u2026
Wtf? Speak for yourself.
I doubt anyone wants to buy a generic laptop from a Microsoft store and that's why their stores are so empty.
Reading up on Microsoft's event yesterday, it feels like Microsoft will soon have enough products of its own to justify the stores though. If I was in the market for a Surface tablet, Surface Book laptop, Lumia phone or Band, I'd definitely hit up a Microsoft store first.
I'm not a MSFT fanboy, but the store at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD always seems pretty busy (as does the Apple Store in the same mall.) The X-Box kiosks in the mall usually have a crowd watching kids play some dancing game - not bad.
Haha...yeah the stores at Lenox serve as quite a contrast, no?
Wtf? Speak for yourself.
Okay, *I* can't make fun of Microsoft because *I* make a *lot* less money than it does.
Who is this and what have you done with sog35?
What problem is the Microsoft retail stores trying to solve? What is their purpose? It's not like the PC world doesn't know what Microsoft is. Or what Windows or Xbox or Office is. Microsoft has enjoyed majority market & mind share long before they opened their first Microsoft Store. Is it just copying for copying sake?
Yes, knowing what Microsoft is is the company's problem. If you grew up in the 90s or 00s, Microsoft was the company that:
- brought you the blue screen of death. Regularly. Until Windows XP
- IRQ conflicts. You wanted to install a new peripheral or card? You had to be a Jedi master in understanding your hardware and their BIOS settings.
- Easily infected OS. Remember the stories of how many seconds it took for a clean, unpatched Windows XP machine to be infected once connected to the Internet? Even today Microsoft still doesn't provide decent malware defense, instead everyone has to run a 3rd party antivirus product.
- Nickel and dimed to death: $79+ for an OS upgrade. Oh you want this-or-that feature? You'll have to buy the "Professional" version. $450 for a productivity suite (MS Office). Which the PC OEMs used to throw in in the 90s, but it got too expensive for them, so they quit doing that.
Yeah, Microsoft's reputation precedes it. Windows was unavoidable and dominated everything. Once people started having a choice with smartphone operating systems, tablets, etc. they couldn't jump ship fast enough. That's why Windows phone has only 2.9% U.S. market share. The Xbox is the only Microsoft product I can think of that a large number of the public actually want / choose to use. Everything else from MS before it was like Soviet Russia bread and milk (consume it or starve yourself, your only choices pretty much). Except you got to pay for the privilege of using it.
Bottom line: there are a lot of people in their 30s on up who feel wronged in some way by Microsoft. That's a heck of a lot to overcome.
It has the reverse effect on me, I fail over laughing.
Agreed. Sadness is reserved for a beloved company failing.
Bottom line: there are a lot of people in their 30s on up who feel wronged in some way by Microsoft. That's a heck of a lot to overcome.
...which is why those playable X-Box displays must be so important to them. They're a long term investment for the under-30 mindshare, perhaps?
I am still amazed how brainwashed some people can be…
In a consumer perspective, how is a non-crowded store a bad thing?
If we are considering a flagship store, which seems to be the case, and there is a guarantee of the best possible service, what seems to be the problem in having a 1 to 1 ratio of employees to customers?
Even Apple seems to understand that concept of luxury.
If you want to try it just make sure to order the gold version of their watch on your next visit to an Apple Store.
Hilarious…
Same thing at the mall near where I live -- there's an Apple store and a Microsoft store. I always make a point to walk past the Microsoft store to see if there is any real traffic in there. Never more than maybe 5 customers in there and they're outnumbered by the employees. I don't even know how they break even on the retail space in this mall, as it's very expensive in that mall. OTOH, the Apple store is always packed -- weekdays or weekends, doesn't matter.
Exactly what I saw at Christiana Mall, Newark, DE last Monday at 4pm. The MS store was totally devoid of customers. The Apple Store was busy.
People were buying stuff myself included.
MS really has a lot of work to do to even get anywhere near Apple in terms of retail profitability.