Pic: The Microsoft Mall Invasion Begins
The Microsoft PR team tweeted out the first image to Twitpic of the Microsoft Retail Store opening in Scottsdale and Mission Viejo. The stores are slated to open sometime in the fall, with more locations opening after.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the visual payoff of a slow summer rollout: after reports on July 15 that Microsoft would put retail stores directly alongside Apple's, and a July 28 confirmation of the first sites in Arizona and California, the company's PR team has released the first actual image of a store build-out — notably via Twitpic rather than a press kit.
The timing matters because the stores are slated to open this fall, just as Windows 7 hits release-to-manufacturing, meaning Microsoft is building a physical showcase for its most important product launch in years while also fighting perception problems on other fronts, from Windows Mobile 7 delays to browser benchmarks showing XP outperforming the new OS.
First-order effects
- Microsoft gains its first owned storefronts in Scottsdale and Mission Viejo this fall, putting it face-to-face with Apple's famously high-converting retail format instead of relying on OEM shelves at Best Buy.
- The choice to break the news through Twitter and Twitpic signals Microsoft is treating social media as a primary PR channel for the retail launch, not an add-on.
Second-order effects
- Apple now faces a well-funded imitator leasing space in the same malls, raising the stakes on store design, staffing, and service as differentiators in exactly the locations where Apple built its brand.
- Mall landlords gain leverage from a new anchor-caliber tenant bidding for premium ground-floor space previously dominated by Apple, which should firm up asking rents in tech-flagship corridors.
Third-order effects
- If the initial pair of stores leads to the broader rollout Microsoft has confirmed, consumer software companies generally shift toward owning the last mile of customer experience rather than renting shelf space through partners — a structural move from licensing businesses to vertically integrated retail.
- A successful store format would give Microsoft a direct read on customer behavior it has never had, informing everything from product packaging to future surface-level devices sold under its own roof.
The trend: Consumer technology companies are following Apple's lead in replacing partner-channel distribution with owned flagship retail, turning physical presence into a competitive moat.