Arun GoyalGoing by the latest developments, Microsoft is set to surprise its customers. Till now, the Fifth Avenue Apple store, known as the Cube had been grabbing eyeballs of gadget lovers as well as tourists and now they will have another nearby location to visit.
Reports say that just five blocks south of this popular street, the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant plans to launch its flagship store. This is going to be its newest and biggest store and in order to gather attention of the crowd the company is offering tickets at the grand opening for a concert with rapper Pitbull. The event is going to take place later in the day when the launch is done.
With this, the company aims to build stronger relationship with customers and attract some enthusiasm of the gadget lovers to its products and services. It seems that years after allowing its hardware partners to sell products running its software, the company wants to make an attempt to have a more direct hand in pushing Windows 10 to consumers.
This space was earlier occupied by Italian fashion retailer Fendi and the customers walking into the space will be quite caught up to see the latest products from Microsoft. To have a glimpse of the store, the first two tables demonstrate the Surface Book, the much buzzed about the laptop-tablet combination the company showed off earlier this month and then there is Surface Pro 4, the updated version of its work-friendly tablet.
Speaking of the store, it’s quite same in terms of the looks just as rest of the more than 110 Microsoft shops in North America. The space attracts the attention with its bright lights and then there are areas devoted to different facets of Windows 10, from products created by its hardware partners to Microsoft smartphones to its Xbox One video game console. Tech support is present upstairs and then there are two separate spaces for classes and workshops that deal with Windows 10 devices and software.
What attracts most attention is a striking 30-foot promotional display made up of 36 screens packed tightly together. Along with it there is an array of displays running along each side of the store and exhibit Microsoft products. Bill Madden, the store’s senior manager asserted that these screens are useful in streaming local community events like a parade in Times Square. Another highlight of the store is a Surface Hub touchscreen display, as this is the only Microsoft outlet to feature the same.
There is a culture wall as well and the evenings display digital works by local artists, though there is no information from the company regarding the details of the art that will be displayed. As the new store is located at the famed location, thus it is certain to serve more as a kind of interactive billboard than the simple retail outlet.