The Real Truth

You can stop brown-nosing now, MF no longer works for Apple. Sheesh, you were laying it on a bit thick there. News Flash: Forrest or “Forest” as you wrote (you must have really admired Michael since you couldn’t even be bothered with learning how to spell his name) was far from well liked or appreciated by the core retail troops. He was sorely lacking in technology know-how (after all his previous gig was something like Nordstrom – great preparation for Apple). Although he did conspicuously sport a Kindle in an apparent attempt to show everyone that he reads gizmodo. He was flighty, disengaged, and flippant. Around Mac Geniii – he seemed concerned only with proving that he was hip/cool. Pressed for guidance or advice or to make a tough decision, he almost always resorted to one of his 3 staple cliches. I think he picked one at random each time. (e.g. If you are not parts of the solution then you’re part of the problem!) Let’s face it he is a job-hopping merc who was in the right place at the right time to land his undeserved Apple post. He conned his way in and when the walls were closing in – he jumped ship just like a rat – this tine to M$. But unlike at Apple, he will quickly be identified as a fraud and I predict he will be dealt with harshly. Then he will go back to selling men’s suites. He is like so many managers still at Apple – riding a winner, taking credit for other’s work, looking great on paper because of the combination of phenomenal chain-wide sales plus the amazing efforts of the singularly focused, internally-motivated, world-class, dedicated to the point of self-sacrificing – Service Group (Mac-Genii).
Apparently, THESE folks are too busy actually doing the work and protecting the brand to meet with Microsoft recruiters.

1. Some of Microsoft’s products aren’t that bad — but they are almost always poorly explained and/or are difficult to set up. A physical retail store at least gives MS the opportunity to fix some of this. (And if they learn that they can’t show customers their products in a timely fashion without needing to feed them power bars and Red Bull, then maybe they’ll create easier to use products.)

2. As smokeonit noted, an MS store might really bring home the spyware/malware/virus issues, leading to better security, if not more educated consumers.

3. It might not hurt Apple to have a bit more competition — seriously — where’s a new Mac mini? Where’s a decent home theatre application? Front Row? Apple has neglected it in favor of the Apple TV, which is in turn a bit hobbled. There’s massive room for improvement here — and I’m a big fan of the Apple TV and the Mac mini.

And a last related question: has anyone seen a display of a Mac mini connected to an HDTV in an Apple Store?

I can’t see a store with a bunch of boxes of software and no machines enticing anyone. And if they put machines in the stores, someone is going to be unhappy about the space they get, wouldn’t you think?