In early 2009 CEO Microsoft Steve Ballmer made a statement about the beginning of a new round of the fight against Apple. This time in the form of the opening of a large number of official retail stores around the world selling the company's products.
Such a challenge Apple Store, of which today there are already more than three hundred. Microsoft took an active part in the work. Only eight have been opened since then. Microsoft Store, and those are all only in the USA. At the same time, it became known that the construction and opening of new ones will most likely be suspended indefinitely. The reason is too high costs with dubious benefits. The very existence of the idea of such stores did not appeal to investors too much.
What fits Apple not always good for other companies. So, investors are surprised why they need an additional network of stores if the products Microsoft and sells so well in other retail chains, like best buy и wal mart. Creating stores is expensive and most investors believe that this money is much more correct to invest in the creation of new products, and not in poorly thought out ideas.
At Microsoft there is not and never was (and most likely never will be) that charisma that will force the user to overcome an extra distance, only to purchase the product of interest to him in the official store. At Apple the case is exactly the opposite. In addition, the very idea of Ballmer caused a lot of ridicule, they say you can’t come up with anything of your own, so you use the ideas of competitors - not the most flattering reviews for the company.
So building new stores Microsoft most likely to stop. Go even to abandon the very idea of their existence altogether.
