The only thing I can see making possible sense would be SMALL (kiosk?) XBox 360 stations, selling mainly games. They could also sell a few consoles and Zunes on the side. This would not be to compete against Apple, of course, but against Nintendo and Sony. I don't see how it would make much sense to involve PCs or the Windows OS in some new retail presence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel0418
I still don't get it... why would the best selling software company in the world get out of a successful business... are you guys morons? Really?
You misread what you quoted: he was telling people to sell MSFT stock. Not telling Microsoft to change.
Microsoft ought to spend billions building and marketing retail outlets. Build dozens at a time, forget the gradual rollout approach. This is the surest way for Microsoft to restore itself to the pantheon of great companies.
C'mon, Redmond, if Steve Jobs can do it, you ought to be able to do it 10 times better. Go for it -- briskly. This is such a sure thing, you ought to borrow a lot of money to get it going quickly. I'm phoning my broker tomorrow before the market opens. Let all of my spare cash ride on some sweet MSFT action. Thanks for giving the rest of us a chance to get on the ground floor and become millionaires like the first investors in MSFT. Wooo-hoooo!
Even though I doubt Microsoft can pull it off, this isn't such a bad idea in that there is so much mall space available. Microsoft doesn't directly compete with typical mall stores, thus landlords will offer sweet deals just so the mall doesn't like like a ghost town. I don't think they will have free standing locations. There is also some symbolism in having these store, even if they are not profitable, just like Sony does in upscale malls and high profile locations. Think Time Square!
Ah, so there it is... Microsoft will be making PCs someday. Stores that are not funded by the biggest ticket items? Sure, that could work in an anemic sales kind of way. God bless..
=>It's going to be fascinating to watch the head turn on its own arms and legs for nourishment.
In Microsoft Country, the local news compared it to WAL-MART rather than APPLE. Now, I know it's because they hired a former Wal-Mart executive, but I am doubting there will be an 80+ year old man greeting you at the door. I am also seriously doubting LOWER PRICES.
"transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience at retail by improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition so that it's clear, simple and straightforward for consumers everywhere."
I had that exact same phrase copied and ready to paste, but read your comment first. Nonetheless, part of it bears repeating:
Quote:
improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition
"improving the articulation"?!? I think the word he's searching for is "articuloptimising".
Why not? One bit of marketing gibberish is as good as the rest.
(Also: I have the proud honor of getting kicked out of the Metreon Microsoft store before I even had a chance to set foot inside. I was merely among a group of people dressed in monk's robes, come to worship Bill Gates at the shrine. For some reason the security guards had a thing against monks...)
I visited the old Microsoft store are few times at the (formerly) Sony Metreon back in the day out of curiosity. I remembered being in there and looking around wondering "What are they trying to sell here". It was not very clear what their intent was.
I really hope they don't try to mimic the feel of an Apple store, in particular the Genius bar. They could not pay me enough to work behind a Microsoft bar. Spyware, malware, viruses, corrupted registries, trojans, and really, really pissed-off users.
It will be like running a hospital emergency room, all the patients are bleeding to death, and none of them have insurance to pay for it.
They tried it once and failed. Of course, they will probably say have someone in marketing say it was just an "experiment". Twice may be the charm but it's a different ballgame now.
Ah... I see some MINOR (sarcasm) problems in such a strategy....
1. where do you put your stores in order NOT to piss off the closes biggest retailer of your products?
2. the aforementioned retailer will fight back with discounts and the like so you cannot compete on price (as "geniouses" and "win" experts will be more expensive than the average salesperson in a conventional retail shop)
maybe open only flagship stores?
3. on which brands are they going to showcase Windows? Choose brand A and you will piss off brand B and so on...
4. if they choose to have multiple brands then the Windows experience might be very different (speed, performance, screen resolution, color, you name it) from one another, thus providing NO PERCEPTION of Windows as a brand.
5. Microsoft is in music (cough cough), computers, office software, games... How can they possibly convey a uniform message and feeling when their products are so different in target, experience, design?
6. How are they going to choose which brand makes the store and which doesn't? By asking money?
7. Since Microsoft mainly sells software, what are they going to sell there? Couple of Xboxes? Zunes? Windows software but no PC? A whole PC? Which brand???
Microsoft owes their success to the fact they ARE NOT A BRAND in software! They are ubiquitous (however that is spelled), they are "behind the scenes".
I see Microsoft's struggle, I really do... Building a brand after years in which it was convenient being none...
But the solution, in my modest opinion, is NOT MICROSOFT as a brand with flagship stores.
I would much more see Microsoft become a brand like Unilever is (or Johnson, or others). Some sort of guarantee brand (don't laugh here, please) leaving each product with a branding and marketing of their own.
That's the route they started taking some years ago, a route which would allow them to avoid monopoly charges...
Windows
Office
XboX
Zune
Silverlight
Let each of them become a recognized and powerful brand, instead of squeezing them into Microsoft's name and brand. Let the positive image that some of your products (quite inexplicably) have not be wasted by associating them one another. Office is fine!! Why tie that to Microsoft which, in turn, will tie it to Vista and it's epic failure?
Try something different, seriously, please. Consumers, regardless of what Mr. Ballmer secretly thinks, are not stupid. Apple is gaining momentum and your retail strategy, as highlighted by you, will only make it more apparent that you are copying Apple, hence eroding the credit you still might have in some areas...
Apple's products lend themselves well to being displayed elegantly in a boutique style store. Microsoft's are very utilitarian. A store like MS would put together would not be exciting to explore. PC geeks would rather just hang out in Fry's or Microcenter. Can you picture a mini Fry's in a nice mall?
Its interesting reading all the comments and how everyone is so negative to the idea. Though for some of us that actually use both a PC and Mac might be a good idea. I am not going to ridicule it till they announce what products they are going to sell.
Keep laughing but it might actually be a success.
For one if they had an equivalent of the Genius bar, that would do wonders for them, cause these shops would be a central point for users to come with questions about windows os. It basically gives Microsoft a way to interact with their clients at a retail level.
Also who knows what products they might have up thier sleeve for these stores.
Now that Apple has become popular i find them acting more like Microsoft and Microsoft acting like the old apple. Apples behavior around the Iphone is pure old Microsoft. For some of us who are old school Apple users, today's apple is not the same, they got a taste of Big corporate $$$ and things are changing...
... that is literally killing retailers of all kinds.
Quick! Somebody call a policeman! Retailers are being killed... Oh hang on, I get it now, you meant it figuratively, not literally. Thank God for that.
Comments
I still don't get it... why would the best selling software company in the world get out of a successful business... are you guys morons? Really?
You misread what you quoted: he was telling people to sell MSFT stock. Not telling Microsoft to change.
Effective name-calling though
C'mon, Redmond, if Steve Jobs can do it, you ought to be able to do it 10 times better. Go for it -- briskly. This is such a sure thing, you ought to borrow a lot of money to get it going quickly. I'm phoning my broker tomorrow before the market opens. Let all of my spare cash ride on some sweet MSFT action. Thanks for giving the rest of us a chance to get on the ground floor and become millionaires like the first investors in MSFT. Wooo-hoooo!
That is the beginning of the end of Microsoft.
What will they sell?
Software? Zunes and get
=>It's going to be fascinating to watch the head turn on its own arms and legs for nourishment.
Baller..more like Balls-up.
More Micro-fail..nothing I love more.
And you know what they say: if you can't beat them, copy them.
So... how is that like Wal-Mart again?
"transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience at retail by improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition so that it's clear, simple and straightforward for consumers everywhere."
I had that exact same phrase copied and ready to paste, but read your comment first. Nonetheless, part of it bears repeating:
improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition
"improving the articulation"?!? I think the word he's searching for is "articuloptimising".
Why not? One bit of marketing gibberish is as good as the rest.
(Also: I have the proud honor of getting kicked out of the Metreon Microsoft store before I even had a chance to set foot inside. I was merely among a group of people dressed in monk's robes, come to worship Bill Gates at the shrine. For some reason the security guards had a thing against monks...)
I really hope they don't try to mimic the feel of an Apple store, in particular the Genius bar. They could not pay me enough to work behind a Microsoft bar. Spyware, malware, viruses, corrupted registries, trojans, and really, really pissed-off users.
It will be like running a hospital emergency room, all the patients are bleeding to death, and none of them have insurance to pay for it.
They tried it once and failed. Of course, they will probably say have someone in marketing say it was just an "experiment". Twice may be the charm but it's a different ballgame now.
It's not going to be pretty.
1. where do you put your stores in order NOT to piss off the closes biggest retailer of your products?
2. the aforementioned retailer will fight back with discounts and the like so you cannot compete on price (as "geniouses" and "win" experts will be more expensive than the average salesperson in a conventional retail shop)
maybe open only flagship stores?
3. on which brands are they going to showcase Windows? Choose brand A and you will piss off brand B and so on...
4. if they choose to have multiple brands then the Windows experience might be very different (speed, performance, screen resolution, color, you name it) from one another, thus providing NO PERCEPTION of Windows as a brand.
5. Microsoft is in music (cough cough), computers, office software, games... How can they possibly convey a uniform message and feeling when their products are so different in target, experience, design?
6. How are they going to choose which brand makes the store and which doesn't? By asking money?
7. Since Microsoft mainly sells software, what are they going to sell there? Couple of Xboxes? Zunes? Windows software but no PC? A whole PC? Which brand???
Microsoft owes their success to the fact they ARE NOT A BRAND in software! They are ubiquitous (however that is spelled), they are "behind the scenes".
I see Microsoft's struggle, I really do... Building a brand after years in which it was convenient being none...
But the solution, in my modest opinion, is NOT MICROSOFT as a brand with flagship stores.
I would much more see Microsoft become a brand like Unilever is (or Johnson, or others). Some sort of guarantee brand (don't laugh here, please) leaving each product with a branding and marketing of their own.
That's the route they started taking some years ago, a route which would allow them to avoid monopoly charges...
Windows
Office
XboX
Zune
Silverlight
Let each of them become a recognized and powerful brand, instead of squeezing them into Microsoft's name and brand. Let the positive image that some of your products (quite inexplicably) have not be wasted by associating them one another. Office is fine!! Why tie that to Microsoft which, in turn, will tie it to Vista and it's epic failure?
Try something different, seriously, please. Consumers, regardless of what Mr. Ballmer secretly thinks, are not stupid. Apple is gaining momentum and your retail strategy, as highlighted by you, will only make it more apparent that you are copying Apple, hence eroding the credit you still might have in some areas...
If you feel this is and error please contact your local retailer for advise.
Silverlight
a recognized and powerful brand,
Is it ?
Keep laughing but it might actually be a success.
For one if they had an equivalent of the Genius bar, that would do wonders for them, cause these shops would be a central point for users to come with questions about windows os. It basically gives Microsoft a way to interact with their clients at a retail level.
Also who knows what products they might have up thier sleeve for these stores.
Now that Apple has become popular i find them acting more like Microsoft and Microsoft acting like the old apple. Apples behavior around the Iphone is pure old Microsoft. For some of us who are old school Apple users, today's apple is not the same, they got a taste of Big corporate $$$ and things are changing...
... that is literally killing retailers of all kinds.
Quick! Somebody call a policeman! Retailers are being killed... Oh hang on, I get it now, you meant it figuratively, not literally. Thank God for that.