Sounds like Microsoft is going whole hog into the retail store concept. They’ve hired some top talent including the person responsible for choosing real estate locations for Apple stores.
Courtesy - Apple Insider
Reports are that the Microsoft outlets will be more about brand building than actual product sales, although a photo of a beta store shows plenty of product on shelves.
Question – Without getting into a Microsoft Bashing exercise (which would be easy):
What should Microsoft do to make these store different? What strategy should they employ to take advantage of their strengths? What new ideas could they exhibit that would compel people to visit their stores?
I once saw a Mac fan get down on his knees in front of the Apple store in San Francisco. Will people do that when the first Microsoft outlet opens its doors?
MS needs to convence people of the value of ver 7 not just banner a new release. Answer the questions What is so great about ver 7 (beside window-dressing or stability generalizations). What will I be able to do (value-added) with the new version, I can not do now? They need to get past the perception the new version is more-or-less a “fix” of previous versions