Microsoft has just begun opening up its own chain of stores in the States to take on Apple’s minimalist halls, and the similarities are eye opening. Redmond hasn’t just lifted layout ideas and decor from Cupertino: it’s pilfered staff too! We’ve got the video evidence here.
Microsoft swung open the doors to its very first store, in Scottsdale Arizona, last week, and the scenes witnessed were eerily familiar for anyone who’s camped out for an iPhone before. As well as the same sparse tables of goodies for the public to play with at will, and the “Answer Bar”, Microsoft’s shameless take on the Apple Store’s Genius Bar, there were the same brightly dressed employees cheering the first bleary eyed punters in.
When we say the Microsoft store’s staff are the same though, we mean it. The first two videos below show Lisa Seigneur, first acting in her role as an employee at the new Microsoft Store, and secondly from two years ago flogging iPods to Oprah Winfrey at Apple’s Chicago outlet.
Spooky, no? Check out the opening of the first Microsoft Store below, then compare it to Boston’s Apple Store opening from May 2008. Could we be seeing a Microsoft Store going head to head against Apple’s flagship shop on Regent Street, London soon?
Out TBC | £TBC | Microsoft (Via Daring Fireball)
