Gadgetory

hey guys john r Ettinger here there are two microsoft retail stores in the world right now one in Scottsdale Arizona and one in the Mission Viejo mall in Southern California which happens to be about 20 minutes away from me so I took the trip there yesterday and walked around the store and filmed I was able to get a sense of what the store looked like and what it was about I was able to do an interview with employees oh they wouldn't go on camera and really get a sense of what it felt like to be at a Microsoft store and the experience they were going for and as you'll see in the video the experience is definitely familiar and recalls a certain other retail experience so check out the video and enjoy the tour of the Microsoft Store with our banners and advertisements for those absolutely everywhere now open let's go check it out all right so here we are we're at the the Microsoft Store take a look and see how it compares to its Apple and what the retail experience is like let's go ahead and walk in and start check it out you can see from the outside it looks very similar very glass things are sort of wide open so go ahead and walk in and check it out got displays of a ton of different computers from all different manufacturers of course you got Windows 7 displays laptops got a ton of software in the back kind of hunt laptops out they've got a few Microsoft Surface displays we'll take a look at they've got some windows phone windows mobile 6.5 display set up huge Xbox is play in the back everybody's dressed in different colors all the employees which is pretty unique Windows 7 is very heavily on display here they've got an Xbox setup where you can write a play and check things out they've got a whole display just for just for netbooks right there you can see some of the kids on it ton of different laptops take a look some of the ones they have here here's a Sony next to an Acer really just there's a lot of different variety here under display it's here's some more Xbox connectivity it's like they have people dressed in green that are just meant for Xbox some people here playing at some gaming stations with these flat panel TVs that are sort of ingrained in the wall which is kind of cool looks looks really neat it's a very neat approach I got some boxing and some Madden going on down there they got some DJ Hero right there just kind of neat ton of games and all the different consoles those are keep walking around there's all the the netbook explain some of the HP all-in-one touchscreens on this Microsoft Surface displays of course fun more Xbox stuff here is the Xbox 360 limited edition modern warfare 2 with its phone of modern warfare games shouldn't just come here to pick up the game instead of bothering with pre-orders but the story is absolutely packed you can see against the wall they've got these sort of screen TVs there all the way around that are showing images you can see it better from this side and they have the video game sort of embedded into those it's a pretty cool experience so far everybody seems really happy it's a very upbeat the employees are very happy and a beat really eager to answer any questions and talk about Windows 7 it see things right I'm moving around over there they also have some displays for kids with some Dell computers that got out here to the Dell studios ton of accessories these little sections right here which are interactive so you can touch that local computer and it shows up right there subscribe here is learning about Microsoft Office they've got sort of their version of the the Genius Bar in the back where they have classes and sort of show things up on that screen you can learn all about the Windows program they've got their actual Genius Bar here where look just like a bar you bring up your questions and you ask it all the retail guys are using this these tablets here to sell yourself and answer questions ton of Microsoft Surface displays a lot of laptops are are the big attractions here hope you guys enjoyed this tour of the Microsoft Store I'm gonna keep walking around and see what things look like anyway hope you guys go ahead now let's see the next video so let's actually go look at one of the Microsoft Surface displays here at the Microsoft Store there are a ton of options here that you can take a look at they got some games chess but what I want to show you right now for a quick demonstration is what you sort of always see people demonstrate with surface and that's pictures you open this up and you've got a ton of pictures here and if I had a they're saying a infrared device you put it down and it will take the pictures off so take one of the images here go ahead and turn it and of course this multi-touch I'm using one hand but you can zoom in you can move it around test it out so is on the other side of the table I wanted to show its own I could spin it another lecture and just push it off them take a look at you move around you can take a look at all different photos shrink this down and open up other ones and move it off to the side go ahead and hit the button down there I get back to the menu time different slope you can check out so there's a concierge service would take a look at that I think that pulls up maps of the mall information we're at and terribly exciting to see here I don't think it's more information on Microsoft Surface it doesn't to be a very interesting sort of display it's quite large you guys can see down there it's a it's a big table but of course it is multi-touch so you can see Microsoft store lives and there are several these set up all around and people seem to really be enjoying it there are a bunch of kids playing games it seems like a very immersive way to learn about the store and more importantly learn about Microsoft product line so there's some more section my first time ever seeing surface and it's a very impressive experience so far it does look a little washed out screen ones me because brightness is turned down not sure but it is very impressive take a look at some of the other so I just finished interview with one of the store employees here and learned about the system they have in place here take a look this is all the software that they have out on display in the store and being a software company you know figure Microsoft has much more so I've got this system right here where you can recommend it and learn gift ideas the most popular and actually pull up information right up there and you can browse all their software and I think they've got over 400 here and you can actually buy it right from this machine they've got a printer in the back that actually takes the disk burns and it labels it seals it and gives you a license key right here all done right from this machine they say it'll take about ten minutes to buy anything that they have and they give you a full retail packaging the Dave going package right in right in the back which is a very sort of neat experience as I'm moving my finger here and touching different things let's see it's changing up there as well which is which is pretty neat and it's actually right turn it into the wall there's a little bit of an outline of a computer display there and you can learn all about different items that they're offering here at the the Microsoft Store so one of the other interesting things that they're offering here at the Microsoft Store it's a skinning of devices so you've got an Xbox 360 controller skin with some Mickey Mouse stuff so what you can do is you can use some pictures that I already have stored here or any image that you want you upload to Facebook they pull it off of Facebook and they print you a full 3m sort of offset to go on your Xbox so they'll put it on here for you for a Bluetooth 30 bucks you can skin your own your own Zune your laptop really anything you want they could skin and put on here for you and if you want to do it yourself you certainly can and we never get sick of a just peel it off if you come back and they will put on another one and xbox over there at the family portrait to put on it there a lot of really cool features near there showing sort of the connectivity between Windows 7 soon and so here I am with the Dell Adamo and one interesting thing about the products here in the the Microsoft Store is that they were bloatware free Microsoft took all of the garbage we're off of them so I'm looking here at the Dell Adamo this is not the abdominal XPS this is just a regular Adamo I have not seen one of these before I thought I'd give you guys a sort of quick view of what it looks like it's pretty spacious keyboard a nice lash track head it is a very thin as you can see it's a little bit on the heavy side you can get the sort of seen aspect right there no ports on the side and certainly no obstacle Drive but all the ports are actually in the back which is pretty neat it's got a few USB ports an HDMI out we've got that white look it is it is very cool it's a very impressive experience here so far to Microsoft Store the employees have been very helpful and eager to to give information back to these computers are coming at down the bloatware really shows that maybe Microsoft is getting sort of the new generation and they understand either consumer a little better than perhaps they have in the past the last interesting things about the computers here at the Microsoft stores actually don't have those windows stickers and labels that you see on all other laptops that you buy Microsoft actually aside they didn't want to put those on any of those computers sold in or actually makes them look a lot so cleaner so we're looking at the Adamo again very very nice the computers are really select people really seem happy and content with the store it's about two o'clock in the afternoon right now and it's not that business there plenty of people a lot of people here are asking me for versus decent health hope you guys enjoyed the walkthrough of the Microsoft Store it's definitely reminiscent of the Apple experience but certainly if you're not an Apple fan or not into the Mac the Microsoft Store experience it is quite good you're getting a lot of exposure to different computers the fact that all of the laptops and desktops are bloatware free and they're without those silly stickers and Microsoft labeling and branding is really nice one thing that I didn't get on camera is every time somebody buys a computer they walk out the store all the employees clap no matter what color shirt they're wearing or what they're doing or if they don't being a customer they all clap which is a little bit weird to say that people just look embarrassed they are walking out with computers all the computers that people are buying to so if you're buying like a Sony for example does it come in a Sony box it comes in a white box with the big Microsoft Store logo on top of it with a black handle very similar to what you'd see on a MacBook Pro for example that was quite interesting to see the employees were really excited about the store they're excited about the opportunity to be there you know Microsoft has their own sort of version of 1 to 1 in their own version of Apple care that certainly you can get at the stores it sort of felt like bizarro Apple store and certainly that was probably what Microsoft was going for I know it's a different retail chain but it's hard to walk into a Microsoft Store or not think of Apple they took some of the best parts of the Apple store and a lot of ways improved upon it certainly that technology to have on the wall the screens that you saw that people were playing the Xbox on it was very cool to me for a extremely immersive experience and that machine that printed the the software that you wanted was quite fun the fact that you can label and customize your Xbox your Zune gadgets I was pretty neat as well so overall I can't wait very impressed with the Microsoft Store if you guys are near you know those two look I highly recommend you go and check them out I think it's something that you'll enjoy even if you're not a Microsoft fan or a Windows 7 fan it just really neat to see one thing that I did over here the employees saying I thought this was interesting was that they said we had everyone with Windows XP and we lost them with Vista and we're trying to get them back with Windows 7 so I wonder if that is Microsoft's for a philosophy they obviously knew that Vista wasn't a success they want it to be you could see by the short retail life and then trying to win back I think the consumers minds and hearts with Windows 7 certainly the most people never left Windows XP service do they have a vast market share but they're trying to push the upgrade 2 to 7 I think is a fantastic operating system so guys I hope you enjoy and I'll see you the next video for exclusive content checking out Twitter twitter.com slash John for Lakers and to get all your tech news and start your own tech blog and monetize and make a few bucks and talk to other tech heads be sure to check out TechnoBuffalo comm links all that will be in the sidebar see you guys next video bye bye so another thing at the mall here are the Microsoft stores check this out it's a vending machine that sells all kinds of stuff so many cameras GPS is PSP goes all kinds of reservoir steno machine like this iPods it's crazy it seems that the airport's never in a mall before totally crazy and I thought you guys would want to want to see this that's a smackdown there's an Apple store opening here at the Mission Viejo mall to