With hordes of fans flocking to the nearest Apple store to pick up their shiny new iPhone 4’s (provided that you didn’t pre-order yours of course), it looks like Microsoft has opened a store right next to their biggest rival.
Today is the grand opening of the Microsoft Store in Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego, California. The San Diego store marks Microsoft’s fourth foray into the retail space and opens later this morning at 10 a.m. PST.
The Microsoft Store is just yards away from the Apple Store, which means it’s competing for attention with the massively long line of people hoping to get their hands on the new iPhone 4. (Mashable)
While the tactic may seem cheesy (pun not intended), building a store next to your rival is actually a strategy perfected by Burger King, who is (in)famous for building stores next to every McDonalds within sight (at least in the US).
If successful here, we may see Microsoft stores propping up all over the country next to Apple, which means yours truly will have to deal with corporate geek hate in the physical world as well as cyberspace.
Microsoft is heavily promoting the opening with celebrity greetings, heavy radio advertising and raffles for free Zune’s in order to sway the iPhone 4 faithful from their local Apple temple.
Too bad Microsoft’s Window’s 7 Phone is debuting in the fall of 2011 (as they sure could use the iCounterweight right now).
Originally posted on June 24, 2010 @ 6:38 pm