The video above is a glimpse into the new Microsoft Store, Microsoft’s attempt at trying to out-do Apple. It’s only a minute long but I think it gives plenty of insight into these new spaces. In the beginning of the video you see a kiosk through the window with 14 different versions of Windows, which makes me giggle some. After that there’s the cheering mob of cheering people, who we can guess are Microsoft Store employees. This whole parade just sort of reeks of trying to hard, I can’t imagine anyone but a 10 year old (and there are 10 year olds in the video) getting a kick out of such a welcome.

Looking around the store you see the floor to ceiling glass in the front, a la Apple, but really that’s all the Apple-ness I see. On every inch of wall there are displays which seem to display a landscape (maybe?) but then shifts color. I can’t imagine that being a good way to sell computers, distracting people from looking at the products by some Las Vegas-style visuals. The wood in the space is about 14 different colors, so there’s really no consistency there. It looks like the might be selling luggage in there as well.

It also looks like they’re selling about a thousand things in there, which if you look at an Apple store, is about the exact opposite thing you can do. Apple stores are easy because they have a limited number of products for you to try and there’s no nonsense. I cant imagine walking into this store and trying to figure out all the differences between so many computers. I also didn’t see any Zunes which is kind of weird, but I probably just missed them.

I think they’ve totally missed the mark on what a modern technology store is. More than anything this reminds me of a Sony Style store, which is just a ton of random products all thrown together. Yes, people still shop there, but I doubt it’s anything like the business Apple is doing.

This is another post where if you want to comment, please be constructive about it. Yes I know I’m ragging on this store, but I’ve given plenty of reasons why I think it’s crap. If you don’t then I’ll delete it, easy peasy. Thanks for understanding.

Bobby