Innovation Vs. Carbon Copy?
24. Sep, 2009 
9 Comments
Whose side are you on?
As the war of Operating System dominance wages on, Microsoft is taking a new approach to solidify itself as a premiere but-not-so innovative company. Their plan: blatantly copy Apple’s computer store experience and brand it as their own.
Before the end of October, Microsoft plans on opening two new Microsoft Stores in Scottsdale, Arizona and Mission Viejo, California alongside the release of Windows 7 due out Oct. 22nd, cnet reports. Why these locations? Well, apart from placement in high-end, high-traffic malls, these areas are already home to popular Apple Stores. And according to Todd Bishop of Techflash, the plans to intrude on Apple’s location space will not end there. With the recent hire of Apple’s former real estate head, George Blankenship, as a consultant we could see this trend occurring wherever an Apple store has already located itself.
But location duplication is only the beginning of the Microsoft strategy. As plans for Microsoft Stores progressed, Jim Dalrymple of the Loop reports that Microsoft has been approaching several Apple Store Managers about making the switch and coming to work for the new Microsoft Stores. Promising the potential Apple defectors with “significant raises” and even paying relocation costs (provided that the defectors bring with them more knowledge and fellow Apple employees). This is nothing new since Microsoft was apparently trying to lure iPhone developers to their company earlier this year according to Leander Kahney from the Cult of Mac.
With the new employees, the one piece of knowledge they will not need to provide is the Apple Store appearance; Microsoft already has the Apple Store layout down and isn’t going to change a thing. Well, except the job titles. The Stores will feature similar areas that include: different areas for Windows Mobile, Windows Media Center, Windows 7, and netbook; Regular demos and events; a special Microsoft shopping bang; and a “Guru” Bar (as compared to the Apple “Genius” Bar) where customers can get answers from Windows experts. The one addition Microsoft will also include is the hosting of birthday parties.
Though the store setup will be similar, the air in which things run will seem a bit different. Apple has taken great strides in promoting their stores as “more than just a retail store”. They refuse to allow employees to feel that retail is all they provide. With job titles like Concierge, Personal Shopping Specialist, and One to One Trainer, Apple empowers their employees and leads them to feel their jobs are about more than just selling a product. However, Microsoft has chosen to inflate this feeling as it simply and uncreatively includes “retail” in every job title available for hire.
So what’s the motivation behind all of this? It may better market share, but it could also be Microsoft trying to put to the test Steve Jobs’ fond saying: “good artists copy, great artists steal.” Hopefully, Steve Jobs and Apple will enjoy the flattery.
Author
Isn’t there a saying that one needn’t reinvent the wheel. It’s so much easier to copy or steal. Bill Gates took or bought what he needed and built MS into the biggest companies in the world doing it the easy way. How much effort and money do you think Microsoft should put into building retail stores just to hold Apple from grabbing another 1% or 2% of market share. Microsoft should spend as little as possible. If you can poach trained staff it saves on time and training costs. It’s like, why bother with a farm club to nurture talent, when you can just buy seasoned talent with big bucks. Microsoft is taking all the short cuts it can and there’s nothing wrong with that. Some say it’s morally wrong, but this is business and everything is fair as long as you can beat your competitors. I would seriously doubt that Microsoft ever had any long term plans of building retail stores. They saw Apple doing well and Microsoft said, let’s get in on this.
I don’t know if the results of this shortcut to retail stores will work as well as it does for Apple because the clientele are likely to be much different. It may backfire badly since the Windows PC platform is so diverse when it comes to hardware. This venture still seems like it would be a waste of money for such little gains in terms of Windows awareness. Still, Microsoft has to try. They don’t want to sit back and let Apple Retail Stores get all the media attention otherwise Microsoft might be perceived as losing market share even though they aren’t. Hearing about Apple this and Apple that in the media surely doesn’t sit too well with such a huge company without trying to fight back in some way.
Apple isn’t getting anywhere at all as far as desktop market share is concerned. Apple is running in place. They’re just making money from small amounts of market share. Microsoft retail stores are not going to change that.
MAYBE there’s ‘magic’ in the Apple store managers. MAYBE. I don’t know. But I also don’t see how.
And certainly not a transferrable ‘magic’ in the store ‘Geniuses’, ‘Specialists’, ‘trainers ‘etc.
The ‘magic’ – if you want to call it that – is just that these people (mostly) just know the Mac and use it and LIKE Apple stuff.
Can you just take these people and say “Now, sell MS.” ?
Why not poach a ‘top salesperson’ from Sears lawn and garden? Or The Gap? Or Victoria’s Secret? (Well, maybe not that!)
Really, it seems they SHOULD have looked in their own ranks. People who ‘know and love’ MS stuff! THEN their knowledge would be appropriate and their ‘enthusiasm’ for their system of choice infectious – like you find in the Apple Store.
There ARE people who find MS stuff infectious, aren’t there???
@PC Odo:
1-2% market share a year is all Apple wants. They are cherry picking the top of the crop, customers who can pay top dollar. Apple has 80-90% of the premium market captured by many accounts. This translates to a very healthy bottom line. Dell, HP and the rest are in a race to ever lower prices and profits.
It’s not about market share. It is about dollar share!
While I won’t deny the whole copying mentality, it’s not necessarily a bad idea to take a page from Apple’s playbook in this case.
Consider that the first Apple Store opened back in 2001. Consider Apple’s position in 2001. Most people, when confronted with Apple, either said “They’re still in business?” or “Didn’t they get bought out by Microsoft?” Apple had these weird computers that didn’t run any software.
So one of the tasks of the stores was to re-introduce people to Apple. Let them see a Mac. Sit down in front of one. Use it. See the software that’s available for it. Answer any questions that they might have, rather than hearing an answer from some PC guy who’ll tell you all the myths about Macintosh.
Now, contrast this with Microsoft. Microsoft recently did their “Mojave Experiment” where they took people and showed them what they claimed was a new operating system. People had lots of praise for it. Then it was revealed that what they were looking at was Vista and everybody was shocked. They’d all heard such bad things about Vista that nobody wanted to go near it.
What does this tell Microsoft? That they’re having a hard time getting their message through. If only Microsoft had some way to get their latest products in front of consumers and be able to show them the features of the product.
Consider Zune. Microsoft believes Zune to be every bit as good as–and in some ways better than–an iPod. The new Zune HD has been getting some good reviews. Microsoft needs to get the Zune HD out in front of people and let them see how good it is. If only they had some way of getting their products in front of consumers in an environment other than a big box store, like Best Buy.
In other words, take your message to the people. Apple did this by opening retail stores. You could actually play around a bit with a Mac before you bought one (and see that, contrary to what everyone said, you could actually use a Mac on the Internet). You could try out an iPod. And there were people there who would be able to answer any questions that you might have. If you wanted to check out what Apple was selling, you went to the Apple Store. You might even buy it there.
Microsoft is copying Apple for much the same reasons. If you’re considering upgrading to Windows 7, you can stop by the Microsoft store and try it out. You can get some idea of how well it will run on your machine at home. The assistants at the Microsoft store will be able to tell you which version of Windows 7 (Home, Basic, Ultimate, etc.) would be right for you. You can check out the Zunes and see that, contrary to what your hip friends say, Zune isn’t that bad. Maybe take an Xbox for a spin before you buy that PS3 or Wii.
Peter, I like what you’re saying and think having a more personal experience for consumers is what Microsoft should do. I just wish they went about it differently. When you simply copy verbatim something that is already popular, you aren’t sending an image that your products are the ones to own. You’re sending the message that your products are for someone that has to settle. The cheap alternative. No, you should strive to display that you’re products are the best on the market and that you have the best available. It seems the products they offer aren’t the top of line except maybe one.
The Xbox 360 is one of the most popular gaming systems on the market, and with things like a Netflix partnership and the revolutionary Project Natal coming out soon, it doesn’t show any signs of losing its popularity or appeal. So, how do you create an environment to bring consumers into what’s going on with your company? By highlighting their most successful product, they can then appeal to consumers who wouldn’t see any benefit in actually going to a Microsoft Store. This type of setup couldn’t be considered a carbon copy, because Apple doesn’t have anything to compete with it. And with Xbox 360 pushing Windows Media Center, it wouldn’t be hard to include all of the Windows platform offerings and other Microsoft products. Thus creating innovation of its own.
MS is copying because: (1) They are afraid of Apple gaining market share; (2) They have always copied (MSDOS from CPM; Windows from Mac OS; Zune from iPod; etc) and really do not know how to innovate; (3) It makes them feel like they are accomplishing something.
This is going to backfire big time. Walk into a Microsoft store and then walk into an Apple store will be like going to Wal Mart and then going to Rodeo Drive. Most people will notice the difference.
MS is sliding downhill fast. The Xbox loses money. The Zune has no apps (it is not just a digital music player Microsoft, Steve Balmer)! Windows 7 MUST sell or it will be the last OS to come from Redmond.
Apple just needs to be Apple. I doubt that Steve Jobs is worried at all.
Copying,stealing,plundering is all MS has ever done. Now they just don’t care who knows about it. You can imagine Ballmer hopping around Redmond like a demented ham salesman yelling ‘Copiers, Copiers,Copiers’
“Some say it’s morally wrong, but this is business and everything is fair as long as you can beat your competitors.”
Is that right? How exactly did business get to be exempt from morality? Who decided that was appropriate, and when? And why do people accept this destructive nonsense?
What they REALLY need (MSFT) is a store with one “greeter” and about 50 “gurus” to work you through all your insane Windows problems.