14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft opened its fourth retail store less than a month ago, and the company has no plans to stop now. In fact, the promise from the software giant is that more and more Microsoft-branded stores will open their doors to consumers moving forward. While on stage at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2010, Kevin Turner, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer, ensured that Microsoft is just getting started. According to Turner, the Redmond giant will increase its focus in terms of retail reach with more outlets, as dozens of additional stores have been planned.
The first Microsoft branded retail experience was unveiled in 2009, as the company moved to offer an alternative to Apple stores. In the past nine months a total of four Microsoft retail stores have been opened, the last of which in Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego on June 24th, 2010.
“We now have four stores open that are just incredible. They are an incredible learning vehicle for us. I told you a year ago we're going to take all the learnings that we hear with that direct end-user consumer and we're going to use that to drive and design our future products and where we're going to go. And we're going to build dozens more stores. And we're just getting started on that. And we're going to keep building them. But, that direct contact with consumers in the community is awesome and it's an awesome thing for us to do,” Turner said.
While Microsoft may be indeed planning to open dozens of new retail stores, the company is extremely quiet when it comes down to offering actual details. For example, a Bellevue, Washington, Microsoft Store is coming, but the company is mum on the matter. The three other Microsoft retail stores that preceded the one in Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego, are located in Mission Viejo, California, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Lone Tree, Colorado.
“And we created something called Microsoft Signature, and Microsoft Signature is our build that is streamlined and causes your PC to just run in ways that you can't imagine. There's no third- party software on it. And I encourage you for every PC you buy at the Microsoft stores, it runs our Signature build. Check it out. And you can check it out on MicrosoftStore.com. So, we're very excited about the progress we've made on our stores,” Turner said.
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