Will Oremus, writing for Slate, points out the huge (read that in sarcastic tone, with air quotes) differences between the design of Microsoft’s new Manhattan flagship store and the Apple Store:
In an Apple Store, you’ll find rows of tables stocked with MacbBooks, iPads, iPhones, and related accessories. In contrast, the Microsoft Store features rows of tables stocked with Surface Books, Surface tablets, Lumia phones, and related accessories.
And:
Apple Stores are famously minimal in their interior design, with blond wood display tables set against a silver and white background. The new Microsoft Store, on the other hand, has somewhat darker wood tables, and the walls feature a lot of blue, and a few other primary colors, in addition to white. Imagine a Uniqlo, but for computers. And whereas Apple Stores often feature all-glass facades, the Microsoft Store’s facade is only mostly glass.
Somewhat darker wood tables! It’s only mostly glass! And don’t get me started on the “Answer Bar”.
[H/T the minimaluminiumalistically absurd not Jony Ive]
Come on … The author of that article is being unfair. There is a clear difference between Microsoft and Apple stores. How often, at an Apple store, does the staff outnumber customers 15 to 0? Ha!
I never understood what Microsoft was thinking with their stores. Between designing them to look so much like Apple Stores and then placing them so close to Apple Stores Microsoft lost TWICE (once by the obvious cribbing and then again by the constant contrast of patronage). Beyond all that, what does it say when the most popular thing you provide is a service to remove all the crap your OEM licensees put on to your operating system in the computer they manufacturer? I guess Microsoft Stores are the most lasting relic of Ballmer’s delusion that people used Widows computers because they wanted to.
Do people honestly think Microsoft is becoming “cool” when they copy like this? Being “me-too” doesn’t want me to go into someone store, let alone their products.
One distinction between an Apple Store and Microsoft Store.
At the Microsoft Store, the scorched earth smells pretty strong after Microsoft burning all their OEMs.
Um doi. Microsoft is just getting their stores ready to sell Apple products.
Microsoft had nowhere to go but up and the fastest way to do that is to mimic the very successful competition. Microsoft and Google have both learned the downside of fragmentation and are now promoting the benefits of making both the hardware and software in their own little walled garden (while still technically claiming the fence is open, but you know they REALLY want you on the inside). From the Surface MacBook… errr Book to the stores to Siri-tana to… well, name it. I don’t mind the imitation because it means Apple has to work that much harder to stay 10 steps ahead. And to be honest, once in a while the competition does something better so there’s no shame in copying a good thing (like I really friggin’ want my MacBook to have a touch screen. I’m sick and tired of reaching out to my MacBook screen to try and move something because I’m so used to doing it with my iPad and its keyboard. grrrrrr…)
Actually he was being sarcastic. Go back and read the article right up to where it all falls apart and he “gives up”
Love the comments on the linked article that go something like “They’re not copying…there is only one way to make a store.”
“I give it a year before Apple pulls the plug on this expensive mistake.”
Remember that? Ah those were the good old days. When Apple was so severely underestimated and misunderstood.
Well, I guess not much has changed. Except now everyone is ripping off all these “foolish mistakes” Apple did, while at the same time pretending that is the ONLY way to design something. Whether its the stores or the products, everyone now seems to have the mindset of “well theres only so many ways to design a store/phone/tablet/laptop/PC/OS/advertising/etc, Apple didn’t invent anything.”
Riiiight…
There’s not zero truth to that.
A “premium” retail store must be clean in design, and bright, and airy.
(Well, for general products and especially electronics; if you’re selling men’s suits or cigars, say, you might want dark wood and a lot less windows…)
Microsoft stores gotta sell MS-affiliated (strongly) products … that means exactly laptops, tablets, and phones, plus stuff to support those.
(I mean, imagine changes.
Should they have lacquer-black tables? Naw, they show every fingerprint.
How about bright primary colors? Equally obviously a bad idea.
Wood is the obvious, classy choice for something neutral that stands up to human beings.)
Of course it’s “copying”, in the sense that Apple already looked at every aspect of the problem space and picked an ideal solution.)
I guess we will never know but despite what you say about how a “premium store” should look, I can also tell you how a “premium laptop” should look and I’m guessing it shouldn’t have “Intel Inside” and other stickers covering the front.
I think you might also say that the packaging for a premium item should be minimalist but then we have years of Microsoft packaging to refute that.
It’s like how the Android folk tell us how there is only one logical look for a smartphone but you would tend to wonder how Android phones would look today if there were no iPhone. You know how these tech guys love buttons.
So apple invented the retail stores. This is beyond stupid.
Idiotic story.
These who is copying who stories are showing the low self-esteem of us. I suppose the thinking is that by buying stuff makes us better humans than people around us. Actually that makes us consumers. Buyers without critical thought. Interesting fact is that most actual writers and photographers use something else than apple stuff.
And apple has been found violating patents in court. And refusing to pay the fees that were and are standard in telecommunication business. And doing this systematically. That is stealing. So great artist steals without mercy and the others do the same and …
rich coming from man who just bought apple tv knowing that it is still work in progress…
Wow, a collection of trite talking points from about 5 yeas ago. Have you been frozen in Samsonite for all that time?
Apple did not create the retail store. But they did come up with a way of displaying products and manning such a stand that no one else did in tech before and were warned by those who knew better that it would be an epic fail. Guess what? It wasn’t and so Microsoft took the easy way out and employed the same fitters Apple used to build their cheap clone stores, giving away free tickets to popular beat combos shows to make it look like the general public might actually be interested…
ignoring the personal attack stuff. Guilt tripping commenters might make you feel better, but it’s a bit of a low hanging fruit.
pretty sure that Apple are fighting their corner when they don’t pay. Apple, being the largest tech firm in the world also attract the largest number of court cases. By simple math some of these have to be won occasionally. The processor stuff ma have more depth to it but it could be that two people came up with a very similar solution to the same problem. Apple did employ some of the smartest minds n the field. In other markets, like the Nokia / Ericson stuff – there was an element where patents that were supposed to be used on FRAND terms were being forced to be shared at much higher figures but only to Apple. Hardly non-discriminatory.
The AppleTV is chump change and as it is going to be driven by third party apps then it could be argued it’s a work in progress, but not in the way you’re implying. As an Apple uses I’m prett happy that my hardware only passes into out of current software around 4 years after purchase as opposed to whenever the latest security update gets released…
“And don’t get me started on the “Answer Bar”.”
What if I did get you started? Because, to be fair, it’s not called “Answer Bar”. It’s called “Answer Desk”, as it clearly states on the last picture in the article, the author of which made the same mistake before “giving up”.
I love MS-bashing as much as the next guy, I’m as much an Apple fanboy as I possibly could be, but a little bit of fairness (and accuracy) wouldn’t hurt. 🙂
It all “falls apart” because at that part, he’s just making stuff up (Answer Bar vs. Desk, see above). Doesn’t really qualify as sarcasm anymore if you have to bend the facts so much to make the joke work.
That’s his point, isn’t it? Sure it’s supposed to help the image. But any 5-year-old could have told them “This is gonna go bad”.
“There is only one way to make a smartphone” – wasn’t that Samsung’s argument?
So was I … did you finish reading my whole post?
He could have been mashing the two together in a sarcastic way. Could have been “Genius Desk,” too? Just a thought… 🙂