I just came across a February 12th press release from Microsoft saying that they are going to open retail stores!
What the??
Seems they've tapped former Wal-Mart entertainment guy (and DreamWorks Animation SKG, where he was head of worldwide product distribution), David Porter to head up the efforts.
Hey, what could go wrong with such a brilliant plan?
I can just see it now - rather than having a "Genius Bar" like the Apple Store - they'll have a "Wonk Bar" where you can take your laptop to find out why after installing the latest Microsoft patch you can no longer print. It will be staffed with the arrogant IT guy Nick Burns satirized in the SNL skit who, rather than trying to explain what's going on, simply says "move!" and begins typing at the command prompt.
Yeah, that'll make people switch from XP to Windows 7.... no, really.
It just seems to me to be like the 1978 SNL skit that stars Fred Willard, Gila Radner and Dan Aykroyd where there is a store that only sells Scotch tape...
2 comments:
What's so brilliant about that non-announcement is that it basically says "we've decided to open retail stores, but at this time we don't know what they will be like, or why we are doing it."
It's so cart-before-the-horse it hurts.
They could probably get people into their stores by filling them with Xboxes. If they do thing right, they just might leverage that into sales of other products, but I wouldn't bet on it. Of course, that would turn their stores into game arcades, probably not what they are trying for.
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