[David Braue]

Click on over to watch this video, then come back and tell us what you think of Microsoft's first retail outlet. And try not to swear, please. I certainly did.

[Dave Bullard]

Amazing. Not a large, airy space, though.

And my ears are still ringing from the war-whoops of your fellow countrymen!

[Molecule]

Damn...I was going to post this as "Microsoft opens first retail store, has fat people working there.".
But you beat me to it. Oh well.

In all seriousness though, I doubt this move will really affect Apple's retail business. This whole thing is equivalent to Kmart trying to take on David Jones. The stores' main auditoria are two completely different demographics.

On a side note, I should point out that I don't have anything against fat people (except when they take up all the space in supermarket aisles ), I just think it would have made for an amusing title .

Molecule

[mickdevlin]

I wonder how much they paid the people in the crowd?

[thomasina]

As one of the commenters observed: no one is actually looking at or playing with the merchandise. It comes across as very, very staged.

Furthermore, as the camera scans around the displayed hardware you're conscious of how there isn't actually a coherent aesthetic there. Now that isn't a flaw necessarily, but when you adopt a very distinctive aesthetic for your store (and one lifted from a brand that does boast coherency in design values) then it only emphasises the fact that the physical products you sell come from all over the shop.

[warmz]

:JK:

Everybody needs inspiration:



Apple inspired by the divine

Microsoft are all out of ideas .. how embarrassing for their staff .. hahahaha

Microsoft have a long way to go after comparing that store to this one. I have been to this store several times .. its a great way to surf the web / email when in NYC! Check out the interior pics in the link below ..

http://www.apple.com/retail/fifthavenue/

[Molecule]

:JK:

Everybody needs inspiration:



Apple inspired by the divine

Microsoft are all out of ideas .. how embarrassing for their staff .. hahahaha

Microsoft have a long way to go after comparing that store to this one. I have been to this store several times .. its a great way to surf the web / email when in NYC! Check out the interior pics in the link below ..

http://www.apple.com/retail/fifthavenue/

That...is stunning. *drools*
Great, now I want to go to NYC even more!

Molecule

[warmz]

That...is stunning. *drools*
Great, now I want to go to NYC even more!

Molecule

Yes .. its a gorgeous building. Its situated next door to Central Park and the FAO Schwarz toy store .. home of the BIG Piano (movie scene with Tom Hanks).

[MacDavo]

That MS movie is one of the worst I've seen in terms of camera shake. It was virtually impossible to ascertain what the store was like, but thank all things holy I had the sound muted. I would have taken up Chris's offer of the gun otherwise.

NYC Apple store. Definitely looks impressive from the outside at night, and there is a very cool factor rolling up there at 4am as one of my friends did, or 6am as I did a bit later on.

The inside was mildly underwhelming. I came down the stairwell, looked around the first floor, then went back to the glass elevator and stairwell trying to figure out why they didn't lead to the other floors. It dawned on me there were no more floors.

I wanted an Elgato video decoder. No luck. I had an expectation that of all the Apple stores in all the cities in the world, this at least would have everything imaginable. NYC Apple store definitely up there for coolness, but I reckon the George St store in Sydney is better. Better range, better interior; almost equal on appearance coolness.

As for the MS store .... sad.