Microsoft’s stores are Apple clones, but that’s a good thing
A few days ago I got wind of a Forbes column from contributor Dave Thier that rakes Microsoft over the coals for not only copying Apple’s retail spaces with its own brick-and-mortars, but for doing a shitty job of it, too. As Thier sees it, this is Microsoft at its self-destructive worst. The company’s unwillingness to think for itself, he says, relegates it to also-ran status and drops it increasingly further behind its Cupertino competition. Well, Dave Thier, I beg to differ.
I don’t disagree that Microsoft’s borrowed heavily from Apple with its stores, but who would? As Thier notes, everything from the glass out front to the expansive tables showcasing its latest gizmos screams Apple. Shamelessly so. But that’s the point, and it’s certainly not a boneheaded move on Microsoft’s part. In fact, it’s about time it gets with the program and follows a proven formula.
For too long, Redmond ignored Apple and its swelling fan base. Rather than adapt or take notice, it counted on its ubiquity and brand to keep it afloat and relevant. When that didn’t pan out, Microsoft beefed up its lineup to match the competition, churning out doomed-to-fail products like the Zune. But their failure had nothing to do with their quality. Microsoft’s problem, it turned out, was two-fold: It was far too late to the party with products that Apple had already made its own, and it wasn’t effectively getting the word out.
Lame ads, the company learned, weren’t enough to steal back market share. It needed to think bigger, bolder. It needed to convince consumers, one by one, that its products were worthy, and more importantly, that it wasn’t just a big, faceless corporation deserving of being vilified. But that didn’t mean reinventing the wheel. A solution had already presented itself: Microsoft could model itself after Apple and borrow that company’s most valuable promotional tool: its stores, staffed with informed, passionate brand ambassadors. It was that realization that led Microsoft to xerox Apple’s retail locations, not some pathological unoriginality, as Thier suggests.
And he’s equally off base in his assessment of the job Microsoft’s done. To hear Thier tell it, something’s been lost in the translation and Microsoft’s stores have all the craftsmanship and thoughtfulness of a Chinese knockoff. A sense of unity is conspicuously absent, he says, and the materials chosen by Gates and company remind visitors of Ikea’s worst. Bullshit.
I’ve walked the floors of several Microsoft stores and it never occurred to me, even for a moment, that the company was phoning it in. On the contrary, it nailed Apple’s vibe while injecting flavor all its own. The walls, for instance, are lined with massive, Minority Report-style displays, and Xboxes with games galore await all who enter.
Microsoft hasn’t fucked up here, and as it builds more and more locations, I think sales of its phones and consoles will bear that out – not that the latter is hurting for an audience. But I do agree with Thier that Microsoft can’t afford to abandon the drawing board. Its well on its way to sorting out the image and promotional problems, but it still needs to work on timeliness.
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