Microsoft Store opening Thursday with Ashley Tisdale
By Thomas Ricker 
posted October 19th 2009 1:26AM
posted October 19th 2009 1:26AM
[Thanks, Sebastian O.]
posted October 19th 2009 1:26AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
It'll Blue screen
Its money having been spent on the park system, the city of Scottsdale allowed the downtown area, immediately to the east of the central shopping district on Scottsdale Road to decay, and by the early 1970s, the area became a swath of old abandoned wooden buildings with broken WINDOWS.
I'll be not-in-Arizona the SECOND it opens!!
You're putting Ashley Tisdale on the same level as Tony Danza?! Really?
I'm no fan of Tisdale or High School Musical, but you have to concede she is insanely popular to a certain demo. If they're trying to project the stores as hip and exciting they can do worse than Ashley Tisdale. It's not like they got washed up Pamela Anderson, then your Danza crack would make sense.
Wow ... MS having 90% market share is a big deal? That's like saying Toyota is better than BMW because there are more out there.
I hope Ballmer shows up ... there's a guy who knows how to party!
Your post became hilariously invalidated after "Free Crack?!". Back of the line.
LOL. Is this their way of attracting a younger generation as Apple does ?
@ t
"Apple runs the shit and they are only getting started."
please explain how will this happen? If you dont....STFU
SP
I can see the rationale here...
Apple's store in NY is of course the one that they parade all over the web, and TV, and newspapers, in order to make them seem cool. Plus of course its regarded as a Mecca by Mac-tards when they visit NY. However, Apple makes most of its retail money via online sales, and at the 300 other stores around the country, not at the NYC store. The NY store and a couple of other "flagships" are branding tools, not actual profitable retail establishments. Do you honestly think the apple store's glass box in NY has returned the initial investment in sales at that particular store? No frickin' way. Just the architect's fee alone had to have been in the millions of dollars range. The rental fee on the real estate in Manhattan is probably way above the daily sales. Only on weekends and product launches can this store possibly turn a profit.
Yes Scottsdale is a bit of a strange choice, but it just reflects the market-savvy of MS. Instead of going for a showy store, with big real-estate costs, they wanna see how this thing works in the real world where the mom-and-pop consumers live. Before getting all in-your-face with a "look how cool we are, we have a glass box in NY", they're going after the other 99% of the retail market that just wants to show up at a store, be served by someone who doesn't self-profess to be a "genius", and go home and use their computer.
Sorry to break it to you, but this comes from Bloomberg, Aug 24, 2009:
"A Mercedes Per Square Foot
Apple’s Fifth Avenue emporium probably has annual sales of more than $350 million, topping any of the chain’s other outlets, said Jeffrey Roseman, executive vice president of real- estate broker Newmark Knight Frank Retail in New York. The location is 10,000 square feet, putting its sales per square foot at a minimum of $35,000, based on Roseman’s estimate. "
They go onto say that the 5th Ave store is the highest grossing store in the 5th Ave shopping district. Clearly that store is not just a showpiece.
preface-I am not an apple fanboy at all, I hate apple.
These stores are going to flop so bad. Theres no premium PCs to merit this. there are premium PCs, but when MSIs, Asuses and the like are stocked in this store, mark my words, cows will fly. i expect gateways and acers.
Did anyone notice that the font looks exactly like the fonts they use in posters at Apple stores?
t does make a good point, though it is hard to see in his fanboy rant.
Why is MS trying to be Apple in this case? They are different companies with very different philosophies, and different approaches work better or worse for the given philosophy. A store makes perfect sense in the Apple world. It gives them needed distribution and controlling the experience top to bottom with their products allows them to control the experience in the store. MS doesn't need the distribution and does not control the experience with their products save for maybe XBOX and Zune. Running a store for MS makes little sense because they cannot control everything top to bottom. I doubt they will do warranty work for any machine running Windows. However, people will expect it. This store will likely only succeed at angering partners (PC manufacturers and retailers like BB and Gamestop), scaring off investors and adding more confusion to consumers.
MS does not need a store, and with their given philosophy a store does not really fit well. They have better ways to reach the consumer.
I find it moderately amusing that Microsoft keeps using celebrities to launch products and do advertising, and even then they fall flat.
...just make a better product guys.
Ashley Tisdale is so much more talented than other current Disney Channel stars. So much more talented, in fact, that she's better than mediocre (as an actress. She can't sing though).
I for one, am super excited. I can't count how many times I've said to myself " if only there was a place I could sit down and really get to know the nuances of ms publisher." I mean really get in depth. I hope there is a publisher genius bar. You know, a place where my fellow "pub heads" and I could hook up and talk shop.
Thank you Microsoft thank you.
"Microsoft Store opening Thursday with Ashley Tisdale, nobody cares" - there, i fixed that title for you.
I like how when Apple fanboys see Microsoft trying to address a certain demographic it is seen as totally obvious and pathetic. Yet somehow, Apple itself achieved it's "cool" status as some gift from the heavens and not through clever marketing and brand management.
Please, You can enjoy Apple products but if you think Apple is "cool" then you are as much of a sucker as a 14 year old girl who thinks a Zune is "cool" because she saw Ashley Tisdale at the Microsoft Store.
It just takes much more clever marketing to convert Apple fanboys, that's the only difference, it's still all just marketing.
So Apple fanboys, be proud that it takes very clever marketing to fool you. You are the smartest 10% of people who get fooled by marketing. I guess that's something to be proud of.
If you like a product, just use it. Thinking one billion dollar company or another is cool is pretty stupid.
Direct From Asley's WebSite
"Ashley has added a brand new concert to her schedule! She will be performing at the Microsoft Store in the Scottsdale Fashion Square on October 22nd. Doors open at 10am and and concert tickets being given away to the first 1,000 visitors. If you're lucky enough to snag tickets to the event, Ashley will be performing at 5pm. For more details visit the Event Page.
Ashley's new album Guilty Pleasure is available now! Get the Limited Edition or download it on Zune now."