For Microsoft, Innovating Means Copying Apple
October 2009 is shaping up to be a company-defining month for Microsoft. On October 22, Microsoft is poised to launch Windows 7, the latest version of its ubiquitous Windows operating system. Plenty of ink and electrons have been sacrificed to the god of Muse in the course of explaining how important this Windows release is to Microsoft: it has to, after all, bang the final nail into the coffin of the disaster that was Windows Vista, just like Windows XP was the sweet mint that cleansed one’s palate after dining on that scatological sandwich that was Windows ME, arguably one of the worst operating systems ever developed. But Windows 7 is not all for this October, not by a long shot. Also coming this month? Microsoft’s very first retail store.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is currently putting the finishing touches on its first retail store, which will be located in the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale, AZ. The store, which, according to the Journal, may or may have been planned, designed, or conceived with the help of former Apple executive George Blankenship—who helped Apple launch its own retail stores—will showcase laptops that run Windows 7, mobile phones that run Windows Mobile, Zunes, and xBox 360 game consoles. Customers will be able to play xBox games on a 94-inch TV screen inside the store. The Microsoft stores will even feature a counter for technical support—in other words, the Apple Genius Bar.
Apparently, then, for Microsoft, innovating these days means copying anything and everything that Apple has done successfully. The truly off-putting thing for Microsoft, however, has been their failure to execute on this strategy, even though Apple practically lays the blueprint for success in their laps directly. And there’s no reason to think that the Microsoft Store won’t go the way of the Zune or Windows Vista, either.
Why?
Well, for one thing, except for gaming consoles, Microsoft’s success as a hardware, device, or gadget maker has been limited, and some of their forays into the space have been downright dismal—see the aforementioned Zune. Microsoft’s formidable success has come chiefly from the software space, but these days, consumers may be reluctant to travel to a brick-and-mortar store to purchase software when more and more, they also have the choice of purchasing immediately-downloadable and useable software online.
Exactly what sort of hardware products are going to line the shelves of a Microsoft retail store? Again, Microsoft is not primarily a hardware, device, or gadget maker. Whose laptops are going to feature that Windows 7 operating system? Whose smart phones are going to show of Windows Mobile? And why would anyone go to the Microsoft store to purchase a Zune, when Zunes aren’t flying off the shelves of any store on planet Earth? Undoubtedly, the products that line the shelves of the Microsoft store will come from the legions of Microsoft hardware partners, but just which partners are featured, and which aren’t, is sure to cause dissention in the ranks.
When all is said and done, however, the ugly truth, real or not, is this: Microsoft really is the nerdy uptight business guy in the brown suit, and Apple really is the trendy mellow hipster in a black shirt and blue jeans. This is qualified as real or not, of course, because that’s how Apple sees things, not how Microsoft sees things. Unfortunately for Microsoft, those Apple commercials, coming as they did during a period of time where Microsoft was struggling mightily with Windows Vista, have solidified the public perception of both companies. And unfortunately for Microsoft, coolness factor plays a major role in retail. Simply put, nobody’s going to flock to and pay retail prices at a store where the nerdy, uptight business guy in a brown suit does his shopping.
Somebody high up in the food chain over in Redmond, Washington, would be well-advised to remember that innovation means exploring and expanding into areas where nobody else has gone before, not following in someone else’s footsteps. Instead of trying—and failing—to replicate Apple’s successes, why not use a little imagination to show us all where we’re going next?
By Robert Pothier