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Brad Slavin has posted a few videos to YouTube (as any good Social Media marketer would do ;D) and appears to be promoting the customer experience at the new Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo, CA. Both Engadget and Gizmodo have added their take on it — and all wonderfully snarky comments aside — it’s a good effort at promoting the experience. The fact is, from all the pictures I’ve seen of the new Microsoft store and videos like the in-store dancing you see above — Microsoft’s making an effort to compete on what people perceive as Apple’s turf. When the Gateway stores failed here in DC, and while Dell kiosks in local malls abound, the fact is that Microsoft really does need to show that the experience of owning a PC can be fun, and perhaps no longer as painful as it’s been since the beginnings of the company.

The problem with Apple (from what should be Microsoft’s perspective)

A Complete Consumer Experience Strategy.
When Apple goes to war their strategy is by far the most part complete. And they adapt, at least in a manner quicker than Microsoft. Apple’s all about being able to actually do things with your computer and the software inside. It all starts with the OS. From the OS, Apple achieves a uniform simplicity. What you see is what you get. It’s not hard to do some incredibly powerful things with the system and it’s difficult to break. Apple’s software is easy to learn because all the basics for getting around and doing what you need to do remain the same – it doesn’t matter. Development of software for the Mac demands a similar user experience. Menus have to be the same. Work processes have to be similar, and always familiar.

You Can’t Complain About the Hardware Anymore.
Apple needed to establish an even playing ground. For years the processors Apple was using were actually superior to the Intel and AMD chips but they couldn’t shake the stigma of being too slow when people talked about Gigahertz. Apple needed to stop the argument and level the playing field. So Apple adopted Intel hardware. The processors Windows and Apple’s OS run on are now the same. What separated these two operating systems was now little more than the code. How it’s written, designed and behaves. And people have been finding a Mac’s behavior to be far superior to the Windows experience.

Apple Does Windows, and Runs all things Windows.
For years, tools like Parallels, VirtualPC, RealPC and other emulation products have helped people use Windows applications on their Macs, but without the Intel hardware, using a Windows program meant a big processing-hog translation process if you wanted to run the software at the same time as the Mac OS. Add the Intel hardware, problems with processing are solved. In-comes “Boot Camp”, a bootloader that allows an Intel-class operating system like Windows 7, Vista, XP, or Linux to be run unimpeded. Some improvements allow the separate partitions to operate in cooperation. Over time, Parallels (and competitor VMWare Fusion) has been improved to run on the new hardware and the speed gain is significant — and now that Mac does Windows, it’s great. No more barrier. If can run any Mac and any PC app at the same time there’s no little reason to actually own a PC, not if your life’s going to be easier as a result.

Ubiquity through Content, Delivery and Function.
Apple has learned that despite good software, and fairly good, well designed and consistent hardware, there’s still the question of content, and in the end you need more than just content. You need a way to consume it. What’s the one thing you can’t do without? Your mobile phone. What was the most frustrating thing about your mobile phone? It was difficult to use, and every new feature is just that much more difficult to use and no new device released is quite good enough. Apple offers you an option. A superphone, a smartphone. Something so easy to use, has great applications, and runs on the same philosophy and operating system the Mac operates on. Fantastic. Applications are easy to get (Delivery), inexpensive and can be consumed just like music has been, through iTunes 99 cents at a time. Apple made it painless and somewhat inexpensive to buy the supporting content, be it music, movies or applications. Before you know it you’ve removed pain from your life by adopting an iPhone. Well that makes me as a potential convert pretty receptive to the overall Apple experience.

Windows users have started to add it all up.
For years the argument has been that up front, a Mac costs too much. The Mac argument has been quite the opposite. We don’t get virus. We don’t get botnets. A Mac is easy, it’s simple. It does what you ask it to do. I can pair it with my phone, I can use my phone like my iPod, heck it is an iPod! Look at the commercials. The “Mac” argument shows through because the song “PC” in sings in the advertisements is pretty common. He gets virii. He freezes all the time. He really doesn’t care about you. He spent a ton of money on advertising when he should have spent it on fixing the XP or Vista operating systems. In the end, if you want a new computer, or you want to end up spending less money over the long term you need to consider if buying a PC is the right thing to be doing. So you pay a little more up front — in the end it’s all easier and far less pain if not painless.

The Apple Store: Mystique, Style, Open Support and Proof at your fingertips.
Imagine hundreds of Mac faithful on hand daily to tell you how great it is to own one. Imagine a place where you can go into a store and actually touch a Mac in a pleasant, open setting where the isles aren’t arranged like a “Superstore” and knowledgeable people are on hand to openly support you with style, love of the experience and a little knowledge. When you can go in and touch all things Apple in an isolated but open experience lab, you can make the decision yourself if you should join the party, or in this case the larger Apple community.

As a result, more people are buying Macs every day, even in this horrible economy. People are finally understanding Apple’s KISS User Experience. The Apple Store makes inroads. PC users are being converted.

Conclusion: Microsoft has been running scared as a result.

What’s on the way?
Apple’s producing a tablet — pretty much everyone agrees with that. This means even more media being produced for it, and even more opportunities for catching someone’s attention and time will be driven to yet another device. One that’s likely to succeed.

Apple’s next steps are likely in the content, connectivity/delivery and application vein.  Microsoft needs to follow up with an equal stroke of genius or beat them to the punch. It’s time to innovate or get out of the kitchen. According to the way things have been expected to play out, Apple isn’t about to purchase Adobe (but they should), they aren’t about to purchase TiVo (but they should), and they aren’t about to purchase AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile (but they should). Acquiring these companies would put some new corners on the revolutionary hat that Apple’s been wearing, and solidify the overall value proposition of owning Apple products. Adobe’s product quality and a solid position providing the tools people use to generate all the media people are consuming on the Net (and TV), TiVo’s killer-timeshifting content app for collecting the results still has incredible reach and is still relevant. Also, adopting a Telecom network, bringing down the costs for delivery and establishing a stronger network would normalize and potentially fix  the things that hurt Adobe, TiVo and AT&T the most, customer service and consistency, delivery and solutions.

But wait! There’s more! Microsoft sensibly fights back.

Windows 7.
Windows 7 is proof that Apple’s way has won the day, but is it enough? We’ll see. The Windows 7 OS design has been seen as so much like Apple’s that pundits are commenting that Microsoft’s “ripped off the OS X dock”, and other features of the OS have become very similar. The jury is still out as to how robust the experience is.

“It’s my idea and I’m a PC” Advertising Campaign.
The last few commercials from Microsoft were a mess. Nothing even close to the brilliance found in the latest round — where commercial actors talk about this great idea they had and how Microsoft heard their ideas and turned them into Windows 7. They’re interesting, and even if they’re contrived at all, they still try convey that Microsoft is listening, and they are responding with something that makes sense, and it’s a no-nonsense approach.

The Microsoft Store.
Replicate the Apple style. Set up some “open” support and set up a place where PC users will feel welcome. A place where people can stay in there all day just like people do at the Apple store. Where a PC user doesn’t feel like a pariah when it gets sick, and everyone feels your pain when it does. So Microsoft is embracing community building models. Imagine that. Well as you can see from the video this blog post leads in with, someone’s trying to have some fun with the effort. However contrived.

What comes next?

• The “M-Phone”? The “Zune Phone?” Probably, if they can ever get over their “Sidekick” problem.
• Normalization of application behaviors? Likely. They will have to encourage developers to normalize their approach for UX and conform more closely to key operating system expectations.
• Would Microsoft buy Verizon? That would be spectacular for them. The nation’s largest most complete telecom and Mobile solutions?

Conclusion: Microsoft is attempting to become relevant. They can no longer rest on their laurels of being the most-used OS on the planet. Most used is not equal to popular, and it is nice to see they finally understand what that means. Microsoft has been the tin can for too long, will it have a heart? Will it innovate?
We shall see. Apple for their end is not sitting still.

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