“These application numbers don’t yet officially appear in the USPTO database,” Purcher reports. “Apple has supposedly filed their trademarks for the Apple Store design under International Class 035 covering ‘Retail store services featuring computers, computer software, computer peripherals, mobile phones, consumer electronics and related accessories, and demonstration of products relating thereto.'”
Purcher reports, “The filings present a mark that ‘consists of distinctive design and layout of a retail store.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tears flow in Microsoft’s vaunted retail operation as chairs go flying overhead. Who will Microsoft copy now?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Has anyone been in a MS store?
Does anyone know if the Microsoft stores have any foot traffic now that the novelty has worn off?
Ah, but did they trademark employee dances?
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/23066/
There’s a MS store???
Microsoft have stores?
=:~)
@NCIceman….
Saw the video…….sad……just sad
While I am bothered by the lame attempts to copy Apple, I do think that trademarking “retail store layout” is a bit ridiculous and shows how stupid our patent and trademark system has become.
Really, how unique is the store layout? They have display tables, shelves, and a cash register.
What makes the Apple store work is that (1)they bought nice looking display tables, (2) they hire good people to work there, (3) the display units all work, and (4) most importantly, the products they are selling don’t suck.
I’d like to know how you write that into a trademark application.
All yours stores belong to us.
i went to a Microsoft store once—i mistakenly thought a newly remodeled Walmart with IKEA furnishings had opened up and thought i’d go in to see if they had any 20-gallon barrels of cheez-puffs on sale.
i walked away devastatingly disappointed…
I recently went to the Microsoft store in the Scottsdale mall. Identical look to an Apple store. Except there was no traffic. Just a lot of bored employees. They even put the surface at the front of the store. My wife was wandering why they would put two big ass tables at the front. She thought it was a waiting area.
“MacDailyNews Take: Tears flow in Microsoft’s vaunted retail operation as chairs go flying overhead. Who will Microsoft copy now?”
Radio Shack or Woolworths.
@critic
And you are a idiot if you truly belive Jobs made a fool if himself, did you read thr “true” transcript of the incident or the sewage gawrker had posted and removed key words.
You are a perfect example of the part of society that can’t think for themselfs and then believe the first thing you read & see as truth without even confirming such.
But we all are aware you have some ties to the gawker, and Trolling is your job, allot of us are aware Nick Denton has hired extra’s to post negitive garbage about Apple and anything that concerns them.
Take that cool drink and pour it on your head, understand this negitive stand about Apple is backfiring.
Have a nice day.
What the MS stores have that Apple’s stores lack…
http://www.pcworld.com/article/159521/10_ways_microsofts_retail_stores_will_differ_from_apple_stores.html
@critic. The Apple store in my area doesn’t have a “cash register.” That in itself is unique. A Genius Bar, who else has one? No matter how you look at it, Apple stores are unique, simple and they just work. They’re also always crowded when neighboring stores are empty. Ya, Steve Jobs is a bit of a nut, but he’s our nut and it works for me.
That post response to “critc” is to the Gawker Tate story priviously posted one story back.
@MDM
You have a teribile flaw in you iPad, iPhone app.
If you click Comment in the upper right corner of any given story it will post in a previous storys comment page.
I have seen many post during the past few days that have been in the incorect place, now it has happens with my post.
I would like to see what kind of numbers the MS stores are generating.
I said it before, I say it again: Microsoft in a brick’n’mortar retail store does not work since they do not have actual, physical products to sell. Software, as a product, does not need to be sold physically, and quite often ist not. And if physical, then usually as mail-order disks. One does not need a fancy, high-end mall store to sell software — just look at all those private developers who sell/distribute shareware as downloads. One also cannot present software products by themselves; Microsoft is forced to fill their stores with 3rd party hardware to show off their products.
Apple does not have these problems — they sell actual, tangible, physical products, and software only as add-ons to these. Case in point: For their app store, they concentrate all their efforts on a virtual app store.
I visited the Scottsdale MS store simply for the novelty. You can’t help but notice the similarities to Apple’s stores, except the quality of the furnishings…er…there isn’t any quality.
Has anybody checked prices for a PC at one of the M$ stores and compared them to what it would cost someone at say, Best Buy? Are they about the same price-wise or can you get a better deal at Best Buy, another retail PC store, or online?
Besides foot traffic, I would be curious if they actually SELL anything in those M$ stores. Why would a PC buyer purchase something there unless they could save some $$?
@scottB
WTF are you talking about?
@Jill
At the Apple store at Tice’s corner in NJ, there is a counter at the front of the store where you give them money, they give you change and a receipt. No it doesn’t have a 30 year old NCR machine siting there, but there is a cash drawer and a machine that “registers cash”. That is the function (whether tied into wireless handheld checkout devices or not, hence the reasonable description of the system as a “cash register”.
How can they patent/trademark a store layout? That’s ridiculous.
Made the pilgrimage to one of Microsoft’s stores this past spring. IT WAS AWESOME! Zune Korner was way better than I could have imagined and the floor staff really knows their stuff around Microsoft Office—especially with some nifty tips and tricks for Powerpoint. Got sick on my Zune headphones during the long car ride and they replaced them for free. Nice.
Why does MAC fear people copying them? Get some help. Building a wall of patents around yourself while Microsoft builds magnificent shrines for the multitudes of Windows faithful is silly.
Your potential. Our passion.™
So what did you actually BUY at the M$ store (be honest, please) ZT??
RE: “Got sick on my Zune headphones during the long car ride..”
More than five minutes with a Zune would make anyone sick.
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Let Microsoft copy The Gap. It worked out quite well for Apple.