It's now safe to turn off your computer shop: Microsoft to shutter its bricks-and-mortar retail locations worldwide

Microsoft has a new approach to retail. One, it appears, that does not involve its physical store locations. In a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has announced what it calls "a strategic change in its retail operations". Or, in other words, shutting down its network of physical …

[Dr. Vagmeister]

Isn't it obvious......

I know why Microsoft fail.

With shops such as Apple, Ann Summers, and Jewellers, they all sell something people lust after, that you want to get your hands on.....

Microsoft sell something crepe, or something you have to use, like toilet roll, (although Xbox, Xbox360 were ok, then they messed up with Xbox One).

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

You aren't picturing a bunch of polyester class, moderately obese PHBs oggling shiny domain controllers and SQL-Server install disks ?

[jelabarre59]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

You aren't picturing a bunch of polyester class, moderately obese PHBs oggling shiny domain controllers and SQL-Server install disks ?

All depends on how sweaty and bothered they get by oogling. In which case I absolutely *DON'T* want to picture it.

[bombastic bob]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

"In which case I absolutely *DON'T* want to picture it."

Here, have some 'brain bleach'. you're welcome

[DS999]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

The main problem is that Microsoft doesn't sell much hardware, and most people see them as primarily a company that sells to businesses. Microsoft makes you think of work, of sitting behind a desktop slaving away at a spreadsheet, or fidgeting in a meeting watching someone interminable powerpoint presentation. It is hard to translate that boring image into "come to our store and look at our products", especially when most of what they are showing is someone else's hardware.

Microsoft seems to watch other companies successes with envy and tries to do the same. Apple has stores so Microsoft had stores. Apple makes a mint selling hardware instead of licensing their software to others, Microsoft starts selling phones and tablets under its own brand. Google makes a mint collecting data to sell ads, Microsoft starts collecting data to sell ads. I'm surprised we never saw them try to ape Facebook and start a social network, or buy Vine to compete with Youtube.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

Agree. But:

^Microsoft^corporate parasite types

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

@Dr. Vagmeister + DS999

Microsoft could sell through Ann Summers and provide an environment to handle and buy Hard and Soft Cores and Wares at the same time

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

Tech support would take on a whole different meaning though!

- "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

- "What? The machine or the missus..?"

[Dave 15]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

Turning them off seems remarkably simple though the mouth continues to carry on, its the turning them on that take the time... oh, just a minute, windows... er... yes, same applies there (15 minutes this morning from the on switch to being able to restart all the apps it had destroyed, 30+ minutes to be usefully functioning... the time cost of yet another update for windoze 10

[RegGuy1]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

Microsoft could sell through Ann Summers

Hello sir. How would you like to be shafted today...?

[Ken Moorhouse]

Re:How would you like to be shafted today...?

We have these purple leather handcuffs... Simply put them on and press the Update Now button. Hours of torment await you...

[Michael Habel]

Re: Isn't it obvious......

I don't know about the XBone® but, I quite enjoyed the Dreamcast 2 (a.k.a. XBOX), and would have enjoyed my X360 more, had it not died pre-maturely with RRoD. Before I had switched over to S0NY. Humm speaking of which. With all the recent debates over the content of the Last of Us 2, and a far more suppior game like the Senran Kagura series. I may have to do the unthinkable and, jump ship back to Nint -- did't, but now they NintenDO!

And, suddenly I get why everyone wants the Switch.

[Dave K]

Track record

MS doesn't seem to have a good track record when it comes to copying and competing with the hipsters.

Silverlight never displaced Flash, now is practically dead.

Zune never fared well against iPods and died as a result.

Windows Phone never made much of a dent against iOS and is now dead.

Edge barely made any impact against Chrome and is now just a Chrome-alike clone in many respects.

Surface RT attempted to compete with iPads and was a dismal failure.

And now Microsoft Stores are dead having never had anything like the impact of Apple stores.

Maybe instead of coming late to the game and trying to copy and compete against an established rival product, MS should focus more on trying to come up with genuinely new innovations instead (stop sniggering back there!)

[Zippy´s Sausage Factory]

Re: Track record

To be fair to Microsoft, it's not just because they're copying other hipster ideas - it's usually because they botch them up and then mess up the marketing as well.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Track record

Yeah basically if Bill's not hands-on involved, it always hit the floor.

[BrownishMonstr]

Re: Track record

Microsoft has had some great ideas and could have succeeded, but they're fucking indecisive.

The best they can do now is to create another Brand with Microsoft's investment, but keep its identity far away from Microsoft, to the point where most consumers won't know it's Microsoft. In fact, keep MS's hands away from it and let the company fail/succeed by itself. It could be roaring success if done right.

[Dwarf]

Re: Track record

And they can still screw things up even with all the juicy telemetry on what their systems are up to.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Surface RT attempted to compete with iPads and was a dismal failure."

Just iPads are more and more like Surfaces, today....

[Dave K]

Re: "Surface RT attempted to compete with iPads and was a dismal failure."

True, I don't think Apple's approach is that great either. Microsoft tried to turn a Windows computer into a walled-garden and incompatible tablet. Meanwhile, Apple is trying to turn walled-garden tablets into proper computers. I don't think either approach is particularly wise, although Apple do have a better track record with succeeding with wacky ideas I guess...

[NeilPost]

Re: "Surface RT attempted to compete with iPads and was a dismal failure."

Yeah... why the fuck is Windows 10S still a thing... of was ever a thing. It’s beyond me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "Surface RT attempted to compete with iPads and was a dismal failure."

"10S" is now only a mode you can switch out from (if you have the permissions). It just became a mode of organization that don't want to allow user to install software but from an approved source.

Not different from. i.e. ChromeBooks used in a school.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "instead of ... trying to copy ... focus more on ... genuinely new innovations instead"

You've got it the wrong way around.

Microsoft's real problem has been that they got there first (sometimes by a great many years), but they got there too late not too early so the tech wasn't as good as the vision. And I'm not saying this as an Apple fanboi either; I use both ecosystems (plus Linux).

[NeilPost]

Re: Track record

Their trouble is - despite the vast sums spaffed like the $8bn on Nokia Mobility....

It’s all a bit half arsed and lacking commitment.

What would have saved Window’s Phone (which to be fair was the the market leader in the WinCE/PocketPC on (Intel) StrongARM days with HTC, HP, Samsung etc phones and numerous PDA’s like Compaq/HP iPaq and Dell Axim)... before iPhone.

... was content.

- That vast chasm of Window’s Phone App Gap could have been bridged to self-sufficient ecosystem by MS simply paying the App Companies to port.. or doing it themselves until is was equivalent to IOS App Store or Google Play.

- the repeated fucking over of everyone on pre-Window’s 7 hardware, then the second fucking over of Windows Phone 7 hardware relatively quickly afterwards to leap to WP8. The Fucking over of Windows RT... again it failed due to the poor App Gap as almost exactly the same OS underneath as Windows Phone 8 and 10. An IPhone 4 still works on IOS7 and many apps Or older versions still compatible that far back. Fucking over of Zune - I mean it was a MP3 player FFS fighting IPod and the crud iTunes.

[Robert Grant]

Re: Track record

That's apps, not content. And MS did pay lots of devs to do this to make sure the right apps were in place. But they don't have unlimited cash to prop up a tiny market.

I say this as someone who thought Windows Phone was great, and owned 3 of them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Track record

The difference between Windows Phone 8 and 7, was similar to the difference between two iOS versions, I can't recall which. In that neither version were compatible with each other.

Microsoft didn't increase the version number for older phones, but ported v8 features to v7 if the latter could support it. Apple did increase the version number for older phones, even though the iOS versions for new phones and old were different.

[Dave 15]

Re: Track record

windows phone based on wince, in itself a hack of windows. android and iphone based on hacks of linux. All hacks of desktop operating systems designed to run with unlimited volt.

Symbian was an evolution of epoc32, epoc32 was designed from the ground up to run on batteries, which is why my old Nokia S60 (Symbian) phone runs a whole week without a charge, including browsing, email, phone and using the apps built in and downloaded. Of course out of fashion now so no new applications coming along unles I write them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Track record

Here the underlying problem is the continuous switching of developing tools and frameworks which evidently somebody with enough power is always enable to force at MS, despite the serial failures.

On phones MS kept on telling developers they should use now Silverlight, then .NET, or maybe some JavaScript? No, wait - C++. Do they really believe developers could keep on porting applications to incompatible languages and frameworks? And that without great support from the development tools MS itself develops and sell to deliver application quickly and easily - as the UI frameworks kept on changing as well.

It didn't impact Windows only because most developers understood following MS marketing is just suicide and keep on developing Win32 (or .NET) application ignoring the latest shiny-shiny idea from MS.

Let's see what will happen as the same people are now trying to kill Win32 and force developers towards new frameworks that I'm sure will be changed every 12-18 months.

[Jean Le PHARMACIEN]

Re: Track record

The reason they fail is that many of the "products" were spoilers of other products.

- WinCE to compete against Psion/EPOC

- The drive compression fiasco

- The Sendo issue where MS (who engaged Sendo) gave the designs to a Chinese company

- what happened to the FoxPro database after MS bought the company? (hint: killed as competed with Access)

- What happened to the Autoroute software after MS bought NextBase?

Let's not even get started on the whole Anti-Linux war

[Dave 15]

Re: Track record

Windows phone was around long long long before iphone, it made no dent on Symbian or even Blackberry.

Then of course the bozos on the board of Nokia imported a failure from Microsoft (the only guy in Microsofts history to reduce the sales of office) and he bought in Microsoft phones despite the massive popularity and profitability of the Symbian devices (that could make phone calls, operate as a smart phone, had a store and a battery that lasted more than 4 hours). He then trashed the whole Symbian thing (including the 3d screens they had working) before closing all the linux development (those in the market and the clipper phone which was ready for launch) before finally closing the whole of the Nokia phone division because the Micorosoft phones never went beyond their historical 3% of the market (despite the 'burning platform' still accounting for over 50% of smartphones when he stopped the Symbian phones.... an accounting limited only because Nokia couldnt produce as many as people were trying to buy).

So, no, Microsoft didnt bring out their smartphone out of envy of Apple, they bought it from envy of Nokia

[karlkarl]

Back in the day Microsoft were fairly good at Embrace Extend and Extinguish. Now they seem to even fsck(8) that up.

Same with this "Windows as a service" crap. They should stick to offline, enterprise deployments. Let Linux and all that go the route of slurping from an online package repo (This I feel is the one biggest weakness of Linux that Microsoft could cash in on)

Microsoft is flailing around and wasting everyone's time (as usual).

[rcxb]

Back in the day Microsoft were fairly good at Embrace Extend and Extinguish. Now they seem to even fsck(8) that up.

Back in the day they had an entrenched monopoly they could use to good effect. Today, they have to give Win10 away for free, and many people still won't take it...

Linux ate away the server business. iDevices and Android chipped away the user-facing side.

[W.S.Gosset]

Point is, they created that monopoly via EEE.

[W.S.Gosset]

80s and 70s Microsoft's behaviour made what you've seen, look like a cross between Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela.

Not joking.

Bill was firmly hands-on. And realised early that people's perceptions of the game were very different from the actual rules of the game; ditto structure of the market. So he played to the actuality not the memes, and he played to win. Easy to do when you have Zero personal risk -- he dropped out of Harvard because he inherited the modern day equivalent of nearly quarter of a billion US dollars. Paul Allen latched onto him and here we are.

Put it this way: America's only real competition law has only a single nuclear option: destroy the company. So it's almost insanely hard to get a conviction.

Microsoft got convicted of full catastrophic breach of the anti-trust laws in 1994. After a 4 year case starting 1990. Only and mandatory penalty: corporate extinction.

Overturned on appeal in less than a day on a paperwork technicality.

If you've ever scratched your head about the weirdness of that major prosecution effort years later on the same basis but about something so trivial as a browser, that's why. They deliberately restricted scope to reduce the chances of that happening again.

And if you've ever scratched your head about what the hell .net is about, that latter court case is why. The (latter) case was looking bad for MS so Bill moved defensively and preemptively. MS was making about 90% of its money off apps, not Windows, (MSOffice had ported the MacOS UI to Windows for business users AKA 95% of the market) so he set up a semi virtualisation layer for the apps to run off, which could be ported to whatever. Then the legal tactic on conviction would be to argue for splitting MS into 2: windows vs apps. And he'd take apps; leave windows behind as a rump zombie.

MS finally won the court case so Bill lost interest in .net. If you've ever wondered why .net started with such promise then suddenly went blobby, that's why.

[Anonymous Coward]

he dropped out of Harvard because he inherited the modern day equivalent of nearly quarter of a billion US dollars.

Who from? His father is still alive, his mother died in 1994, long after he left Harvard.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

No idea if the numbers scale up, and chronologically, this is later, but the non-exclusive MS-DOS deal with IBM was to bring in a lot of cash

https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-agreement-that-catapulted-microsoft-over-ibm/94437/

[W.S.Gosset]

Family Trust.

Just a standard (for the HNW brigade) age-related entitlement. No death involved.

[W.S.Gosset]

Bill actually got the wobbles shortly after kick-off, and panicked and chucked it all in and ran back to Harvard.

Paul Allen knew that latching onto someone THIS rich was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so went over and wheedled him back out.

That worked out very VERY well for Paul.

[J27]

This is not exactly surprising, I imagine you'll still be able to buy Microsoft hardware at Best Buy (or your market's equivalent) so this won't affect anyone, except the people who lose their jobs that is.

[NeilPost]

... or Curry’s !

- Apple IPad and Macbook Benches

- Entry laptop bench

- premium entry laptop bench

- mid-range laptop bench

- gaming laptop bench

- premium laptop bench

- premium plus laptop bench

- Surface bench

[Anonymous Coward]

I think MS's big problem (in terms of their consumer offerings) is they always have unrealistic ideas of what they're going to achieve, and once they realise they're not going to achieve market domination in every sector then they just give up on things, be it hardware, software, services or shops.

Zune didn't displace iPod - dropped

Windows Phone didn't triumph over iOS/Android - killed off

MS Stores didn't manage to replicate the attraction of Apple Stores - shut down.

I'm not saying MS should keep pumping money into failing projects, but fundamentally there's been nothing wrong with some of MS's killed-off offerings, but MS still seem to believe they can just be number 1 at everything without trying. Instead no-one now wants to commit to any part of the MS consumer eco-system knowing that odds-on MS will lose interest and drop it within 12 months.

[Stevie]

Zune.

Zune was produced for 5 years before it was dropped, and I believe the reasons were that it had failed to grab significant market share, wasn't even in the top 5 devices, and that a study showed that everyone was switching to using smartphones for music consumption.

And let's not forget that Apple dropped support for iPod classic *and* the iPod nano that had a wheel and screen in favor of a phone-like device (in one case that was laughable small).

Because everyone was going towards phone-based music (and Apple would love you to switch to a music rental model like Amazon and the music industry in general would).

[NeilPost]

Re: Zune.

... others made that mistake.

I remember struggling getting music content onto a SD card for my Nokia 6230. The MP3 player was a bit shit too.

Apple also hobbled iPod/iPad/iPhone for years with iTunes .... !

[Dave 15]

Very performance oriented

We were bought by MS, 2 years later killed off, we were not as profitable as windows phone despite being (a) in a different market segment anyway - feature phones and (b) making millions a year, it was just not enough for them not even when it was seriously positive cash flow. When working for the the rewards system was fairly horrendous, compared to your peers and if considered not as good getting kicked out so new could be bought in. You didnt need to be behind your peers by any measurable amount but it was very harsh as a company from every side.

[Marty McFly]

Stick to what they do best....

....showing up once a year in the Enterprise and shaking down corporate customers for more money.

[Scotthva5]

They were never going to stay in business...

...if people came in just to Windows shop.

edit: yes, I stole that from /.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: They were never going to stay in business...

A/ brilliant

B/ check out my .net note, above

[a_yank_lurker]

Marketing 101

First rule of marketing is to understand your customers who are likely a varied lot. This means knowing each segment well and understanding how to approach each segment. If you are going to sell to consumers a house brand (Surface e.g.) it has to either be a genuine bargain or possess a wow-factor to stand out against the OEM products. As far as captive retail stores, they work for a fruity outfit as they are one the major outlets for the entire product line (trying finding Macs at Wally World (Wal-mart) or the like). But for the Rejects of Redmond Wally World, et. al. carry numerous moderately priced models from a variety of manufacturers. So to go to a captive retail store is probably point less as there is real advantage as consumer.

The Rejects have a long history of aping someone's successful ideas or products without understanding why the idea or product is doing well. This is why there is a long list of abandonware, you can't copy an idea or product and have be successful you have to understand the idea or product. Understanding takes real work while copying is easy.

[WolfFan]

Re: Marketing 101

Macs are available at Costco, Walmart, and, if iPad Pros count, BJ’s. Not at Target, though.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Marketing 101

And Apple stores made no sense for selling macs.

That's why everybody laughed at Jobs for opening masses of expensive stores that competed with other retailers also selling macs for less - remember this was before the iPhone

Then suddenly you had a network of stores to sell the mobile phone - to customers who didn't care about the price or which network it's from.

[doublelayer]

Microsoft store Vs Apple store

I think part of the benefit of Apple's stores is that they use it as a location for convenient tech support. If people know they can take their Apple devices to a local place, have someone look it over, and explain to them what is going wrong, they will probably stop by. If you already started that part of the project, you might as well also have new Apple devices on hand to show them off and so the user can buy a replacement when the tech support person tells them that their old one is broken.

Meanwhile, I don't know how restrictive Microsoft stores are about tech support. Maybe they're exactly like Apple, but even if they tried, their job is much harder. There is no way a standard Microsoft store employee will have all the diagnostic tools on hand to identify and fix hardware problems in laptops not made by Microsoft, and if they tried to create that capability it would be very expensive. Furthermore, I'm guessing that coming to their store and asking for help wasn't quite as easy as it is for Apple users. I tried to figure out for sure but all their pages have been changed to reflect work from home and the details aren't showing on the wayback machine. Since fewer users are coming for technical support, there are fewer people with broken machines to which replacements can be marketed.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Microsoft store Vs Apple store

That's why we always bought Macs for sales people.

Break your Macbook anywhere from Aukland to Zurich and walk into an Apple store, get it fixed or swapped, your work synched from iCloud and back to work.

Compared to buy a Lenovo/Dell and ship it back to them and have a replacement in 2weeks - It's worth me paying a few $100 extra

[jelabarre59]

Re: Microsoft store Vs Apple store

Break your Macbook anywhere from Aukland to Zurich and walk into an Apple store, get it fixed or swapped, your work synched from iCloud and back to work.

Compared to buy a Lenovo/Dell and ship it back to them and have a replacement in 2weeks - It's worth me paying a few $100 extra

Yeah, but in-between, you STILL have an Apple product.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Microsoft store Vs Apple store

Buy Lenovo or Dell on-site support and if the laptop breaks anywhere from Anchorage to Sydney, a tech will come next business day to you and fix it. Works in a lot of places, where there is no Apple store in sight and still costs a lot less then idiot gear.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Microsoft store Vs Apple store

Watch Louis Rossman on YouTube.

Then come back and tell us what value for money Apple is.

[N2]

Re: Microsoft store Vs Apple store

One has customers?

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Microsoft store Vs Apple store

> part of

Based on a lot of people's stories, I'd say more like 95%

[gerryg]

Apple more like Prada

Apple have always made things that were considered beautiful and exclusive. Owning Apple was making a personal statement. They have never really gone for market dominance (lock-in, aside). Part of the "look" was the flagship store with one product per 3 square metres in the fashion quarter with the other statement brands. It has never been about technology and getting things serviced.

The clue is in the film "The Devil Wears Prada" when the vaguely techie newbie is delivering something to a client and has to be told why taking a taxi was "part of the brand" as although slower and vastly more expensive than using the subway, delivering by taxi was part of the customer experience.

It's bonkers money if you can pull it off but it is a complicated business. Microsoft has tried several times to get some of that but failed.

FWIW I use Linux on any old hardware

[Ken Moorhouse]

Maybe the reason was due to their unreliable opening hours

You'd just get inside and then, without any warning, they'd suddenly close the place down for an indeterminate period.

When they did let you back in the staff would be too busy doing things like rearranging the displays to the way they were beforehand. If you did try to buy something none of the receipt printers would work.

[Anonymous Coward]

It used to be "Developers, Developers, Developers"! Now It's "Subscriptions. Subscriptions, Subscriptions"!

[Sleep deprived]

Does this mean

I can now uninstall the Microsoft Store on my new Windows 10 laptop?

[NeilPost]

Re: Does this mean

Please ensure you do the one-time Windows 10S Fucking off for the full version free upgrade.

Yes Windows 10S remains a thing.

[Eli...]

Given the current economic climate... etc.

I'm afraid I've no snappy comment to make about MS ditching retail, however, given the

reduced number of shoppers due to Covid, retail staff already moved into online support,

and the fact the shops (should be/are?) closed as 'non-essential' (at least in the UK), this

would seem like the optimal time to disband the retail side.

You almost might think that someone at MS said 'Hey, it's dead anyways, lets cut the head

off now rather than later'.

To actually be a screw-up, MS would have to bring all their outlets back into service, make

a loss elsewhere to cover re-opening, re-staffing and re-stocking, and THEN shut it all down.

MS might just for once be ahead of the game? Naaaaaaa… can't be.

[deadlockvictim]

Microsoft don't really what end-users want

As someone who uses Microsoft daily (SQL Server DBA), Microsoft doesn't really seem get what users want.

There are so many little things that Microsoft wants us to do online that I wouldn't mind going into a Microsoft shop and doing.

For example, I try to do one MCP exam per year. I have to order the books online and then inevitably go down to the post office to collect them. I have to order the exams online. Microsoft could easily have a test centre and the materials in their store.

Many of the books that I'd like to read have to be ordered and it would be nice if they were available there.

There are a couple of SQL Server events (not necessarily organised by Microsoft) on in various places. The Microsoft shop would again make a great venue for presentations if they wanted to do it. The Genius Bar concept from Apple could be replicated a couple of days per year with a sponsored tour from some of the MVPs. All of this costs money, to be sure, but having a central physical location that serves as the nexus of Microsoft is great for reinforcing interest in the products.

I'm thinking primarily of my parents here: courses on Excel, Word, scripting could all be offered.

They could have people there full-time who could fix, optimise, clean your Windows machine. I want to break my machine before I have to get someone to fix it and even then I I'll just wipe it and re-install everything.

In short, Microsoft could be very pro-active in help people who use their products daily to use them better.

Also, I like Microsoft keyboards and mice, more so than Logitech and especially more than Apple mice. The mice have a nice feel in the hand. Not to mention the number of xbox fans out there.

[Unicornpiss]

I honestly didn't know they still had these

In fact, I'm not sure I ever even saw one. Definitely not anywhere near my neck of the woods.

[anthonyhegedus]

Tumbleweed

I've walked past the Apple Store and the Microsoft Store in Regent Street (on my way to the Nespresso store actually) several times and every time, there's a load of empty nothing in the Microsoft Store, and a lot of heaving everybody in the Apple Store. I cannot think what the point of it is. And now it's going to be reimagined. Maybe reimagine it as another Apple Store, with no Microsoft products, and it'll succeed. Or a coffee shop.

Apple succeed because they make things people want to buy. Microsoft succeed because they make things people have to buy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Tumbleweed

Microsoft had a previous attempt at retail. I can remember going to a Mall just off RTE 128 near Boston, MA back in the 1980's. It was empty. Mind you, the DEC store nearby was only a little busier.

Neither lasted very long.

It appears that MS hasn't learmed a lesson. For them to setup shop within a 100yds of one of the Biggest Apple Stores (London, Regent Street) is asking for a big fall. They (MS) are just not hip when compared to Apple.

Their big market is Business. Perhaps they should concentrate on selling their tat to big biz and leave selling other tat to Apple?