Microsoft still taking Apple on head-to-head in continued retail expansion

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  • Reply 61 of 134
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by 512ke View Post


    Didn't Burger King do this?


     


    McD's did extensive research about where to locate their restaurants.


     


    Burger King's business plan was just, 'build one near ever single McD's.'



    Not just Burger King. There is a reason why similar stores tend to congregate. You may have to share your customers with your competitors but it is worth it because the more similar stores the higher the foot traffic. In the MS / Apple case it is kinda unique because computer stores were never in these kind of locations before the Apple stores. But if MS doesn't have the products and the service to match Apple the exercise will be counter productive, which by people's accounts here, seems to be the case. I'd love to see the MS's numbers on the stores.

  • Reply 62 of 134
    bullheadbullhead Posts: 493member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post





    Ballmer is modeling a new girdle in this picture.


     


    nah, the comfort fit depends

  • Reply 63 of 134
    buzdotsbuzdots Posts: 452member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Microsoft 2


     


    Based on store numbers & attendance, it seems as if the concert may be over before they can get rid of the wristbands.

  • Reply 64 of 134
    maccherrymaccherry Posts: 924member


    Flo Rida=auto tune, can't pay his damn bills.


    Fail M$?


    YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!

  • Reply 65 of 134

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post


    What kind of an idiot calls themselves "Flo Rida"????  


     


    Big muscle dude with a bad pun on a girls name for his handle?  WTF?



     


     


    Well, then... whatta 'bout Snoop Lion Lion?

  • Reply 66 of 134
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post

    Well, then... whatta 'bout Snoop Lion Lion?




    I sort of like the location-themed names, though.


     


    Oh! There could be a fat white rapper with a long white beard called Santa Domingo!


     


    Or a duet, one male, one female. The woman's always naked and the man is just her harmony singer. Call them "Nicobar And a man"!

  • Reply 67 of 134
    daylove22daylove22 Posts: 215member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MJ Web View Post


    Steve Bummer, Steve Bummer, king of the wild bum steer!



    but he is a billionaire you are not..

  • Reply 68 of 134
    steverance wrote: »
    Microsoft's new store at the Westchester Mall in White Plains, N.Y., is set to open soon ... With Zune!!!

    700

    Where are KIN ONE and KIN TWO?
  • Reply 69 of 134

    Quote:


    This seems to be the strategy MS used in the Xbox release... release a product, market the product, market the marketing, absorb huge losses until it's making money, and ignore the sunk costs, and claim victory.


     


    All in all, the MS store is like the 'Surface'  It's a 'reference platform' for MS to shove in front of it's partners, and say "This is how we want our stuff marketed... if you can't do this, we'll take over your spot in the MS food chain."  Problem is... MS working the ends (delivery to consumer/ OS and requirements engineering), and ignoring the middle (UX engineering [apple would hate that term], HW/SW integration, end to end experience, HW/SW support, online store, integration of retail to user experience (my appleID and my storeID are the same), etc etc.


     


    MS is selling product by maximizing expertise in experience.   


     


    MS selling Dell or Samsung hardware no better than BestBuy.   Once you get to a problem, MS doesn't own it.  Dell, HP, Nvidia, Sony own the problem.


     


    Hence, the MS store is a walk in experience marketing campaign.   The problem is, MS only controls about 20% of the experience.


     


    Apple is selling experience, by maximizing expertise in the product.   Any problem with your Mac or iPhone, is pretty much Apple's (or yours) to solve, because they are the ones who specced every piece and shipped it to you.


     


     


     


    MS' key mistake, is that they think people want a product.    No.  People want experience, preferably one that is enjoyable, and 'gets the job done'.   The concept of "Windows Ready" or "Intel Inside" have been replaced with a single silver Apple logo, like a Mercedes or BMW logo...  MS thinks people wants Windows (Windows EVERYWHERE), no people want a device that solves a problem for them... it's the difference between a hammer, a nail and some wood, and a finished picture frame.  


     


    the MS store is antithetical to how MS's DNA runs... They supply SW to others and others do stuff with it (OEM's, corporations)  The store is to sell solutions.  but as I said, in MS's business model, they don't own the solution, therefore in the end, they can't sell solutions... they sell product.  And like BestBuy, they will fail.




    This is extremely well articulated.  Remind me to follow your posts Geoff :)


     


    It will be interesting to see if Samsung, Amazon, or Google/Motorola manage to become product experts selling experiences like Apple today.  It seems that of the three, Samsung has gained the strongest foothold in the market by becoming hardware experts (admittedly by stealing hardware designs from Apple), and paying just enough attention to software to make it all work well enough for the average consumer.  Any thoughts on what strategy Apple should use to ultimately win against Samsung?

  • Reply 70 of 134
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by daylove22 View Post

    but he is a billionaire you are not..


     


    Born in Detroit over in Michigan,


    Dropped out of Stanford; Gates reeled him in.


    Joined Microsoft in June 1980,


    Wasn't the first: employee #30.


     


    Ballmer! Stevie Ballmer! King of the wild bum steer!






    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

    Where are KIN ONE and KIN TWO?



     


    Even Clippy looks down on them. At least, that's how Google Images has it set up.


     


    image

  • Reply 71 of 134

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    image


     


    Tagline: "Daytime soaps have never stooped so low."


     


    Click for larger, since Huddler… 



     


    I wonder what MS will call the Geniuses in their stores...


     


    Butts, Balds, ButtBalds, ButtHeads, MonkeyButts, MonkeyBalds... or the cruelest joke of all:  Ballmers.


     


     


    ...And the reps will all wear T-Shitrs with an arrow, saying I'm with... 


     


    "And, they're off!" said the Ballmer as he backed into the lawnmower.

  • Reply 72 of 134
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Onhka View Post


    Would be nice to see some comparative photos. Certainly somebody has a camera. An iPhone?


     


    P.S., NOT asking to get a full-blown account as was done in Matt Rosoff's article in Business Insider, HEAD TO HEAD BATTLE: Microsoft Store Vs. Apple Store — Which Is Better?



     


    Like I said, if I go to Kenwood next month and the stores are both open, I'll snap some shots

  • Reply 73 of 134
    see flatsee flat Posts: 145member


    I was very surprised to see a Zune logo on the billboard. Do they still make those? I've never actually seen one in the hands of a person who bought it.


     


    EDIT: never mind. Just looked it up. I see it's turned into an iTunes wanna be.

  • Reply 74 of 134
    umrk_labumrk_lab Posts: 550member
    lkrupp wrote: »
    Once again Jobs showed the clueless how to do it right. Ballmer does whatever Steve did, only years later after he had his knees whacked.


    Guy Kawasaki : do it right, at the right time ...
  • Reply 75 of 134
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post

    I wonder what MS will call the Geniuses in their stores...


     


    Butts, Balds, ButtBalds, ButtHeads, MonkeyButts, MonkeyBalds... or the cruelest joke of all:  Ballmers.



     


    "Developers".


     


    A "Developer Bar" in the back, "Developer on Developer" sessions… 

  • Reply 76 of 134
    markbyrnmarkbyrn Posts: 661member


    A free concert ticket to Flo Rida?  Pretty sad you have no product that you can actually give out - all out of Zunes?  

  • Reply 77 of 134
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    daylove22 wrote: »
    but he is a billionaire you are not..

    Yeah, annoying, isn't it? In free market capitalism the cream rises to the top—but unfortunately sometimes so do turds.
  • Reply 78 of 134
    drandeldrandel Posts: 28member


    I wish MS tons of success with this.  I'd love to see them give Apple some competition. 


     


    But so far, MS has only scratched the surface of having their own hard products to sell.  Let's see ... there's soft stuff, Windows and it's many flavors (including Home Server); Office (I wonder if they sell Office for Mac in those stores??); and ... uh ... yeah, the hard Surface thing. 


     


    Another problem: Can the Microsoft Wise Guys (well, you can't really call them Geniuses, can you?) really help you find the right machine for you?  Good luck.


     


    I'm hoping that Dell is going to get with the program at some point, but so far they're pretty disappointing.  Not that I'd personally buy a Dell, but Dell is better positioned to do retail than Microsoft, and it could (maybe, might) be some measure of competition added to the market mix.


     


    Oh, yeah, forgot the XBox--they got that right. 

  • Reply 79 of 134

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post





    Yeah, annoying, isn't it? In free market capitalism the cream rises to the top—but unfortunately sometimes so do turds.


     


     


    Yeah... even a bloated corpse sometimes rises to the Surface before it sinks into the muck... 

  • Reply 80 of 134

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drandel View Post


    I wish MS tons of success with this.  I'd love to see them give Apple some competition. 


     


    But so far, MS has only scratched the surface of having their own hard products to sell.  Let's see ... there's soft stuff, Windows and it's many flavors (including Home Server); Office (I wonder if they sell Office for Mac in those stores??); and ... uh ... yeah, the hard Surface thing. 


     


    Another problem: Can the Microsoft Wise Guys (well, you can't really call them Geniuses, can you?) really help you find the right machine for you?  Good luck.


     


    I'm hoping that Dell is going to get with the program at some point, but so far they're pretty disappointing.  Not that I'd personally buy a Dell, but Dell is better positioned to do retail than Microsoft, and it could (maybe, might) be some measure of competition added to the market mix.



     


    DELL and HPQ stocks are flirting with 52-week lows!

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