Imagine for a second that you're Microsoft: unimaginably rich, a bit bloated after years on the Office hog, and worried about a few
big projects you've been
meaning to finish if only you could find the time. Now, what day would you choose to launch your
brick-and-mortar stores back into retail if you were David Porter, vice president of retail stores and former Wal-Mart exec? If it was us, we'd choose October 22nd, the official Windows 7 launch. That's exactly what a number of tipsters are telling us courtesy of an in-person briefing by Kevin Turner, Microsoft's COO. Specifically, the Scottsdale store will swing the doors wide on the 22nd, we're not sure about the Mission Viejo location. According to the
Wall Street Journal, the stores will sell Windows-based laptops and cellphones and allow consumers to play Xbox 360 games on a 94-inch in-store screen. It'll even have a
Genius Bar "counter" where people can bring their Microsoft gear for help. In fact, the WSJ claims that the Scottsdale store interior is a "nearly exact replica" of the store created on Redmond's campus -- something we
covered back in January (pics in the gallery below). Who knows, this could be the beginning of www.peopleofmicrosftstore.com as Internet trends go.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Nov 5th 2009 at 2:14PM
