Microsoft “is offering a $100 credit toward a full year of Xbox Music Pass to the first 100 people lined up at Microsoft stores when they open Friday morning,” Brier Dudley reports for The Seattle Times. “To receive the gift they also have to make a purchase.”
“Microsoft must want to be sure there are enough people at its stores Friday to generate some buzz,” Dudley reports.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Desperate measures for an increasingly desperate company. After seeing the Surface RT reviews, Ballmer must have figured out that free concert tickets wouldn’t cut it, so he upped his bribe.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” and “Tayster” for the heads up.]
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So sad!
Yeah cuz otherwise why would you ever want to go to a Microsoft Store except to get something free.
Don’t care. Just ordered my Mini at 3:20am.
Got email confirmation. Gotta wait a couple
weeks (64Gb WiFi ATT cellular). Happier
than a pig in slop. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Same here! 16 Gb White & Silver for my daughter’s Xmas present!
Your daughter will know she has the coolest dad on earth!
Too bad!
If they want lines they need to give $100 in iTunes gift cards 😉
Still not worth it. So glad to be done with Winblows.
Payola Microsloth way!
Desperate Ballmer needs all the help he can get
I really feel bad for the Apple fans sometimes… i mean, why in the world is Microsoft or any other company desperate for doing something nice for their fans?! They are giving away a free year of a music service to a couple thousand people…geez what is the big deal?! How is that sad, bad or any other derogate term?! They are promoting two products at once… If anything is some good marketing and good sentiment towards their fan base (however large it might be)
Do you really feel that superior because you use a product made by Apple?! I fear for the future sometimes…
Exactly! Finally someone is talking sense!
Please pass the Flav-r-ade!
Sorry macaholic,
You only get the bribe (er gift??) if you are standing in line at the store. They are paying people to stand in line.
If they want to be nice, give it to everyone that orders the product. No, this produces a photo op. Not nice.. its advertising cost.
Just a thought.
PS. anyone else agree with me? 🙂
Clearly they are manufacturing buzz. They can’t get lines as long as Apple’s without salting the tail. They really, really need to look good with this rollout.
Microsoft calls it a promotion.
Real world calls it Bribery.
Oh, it’s only a $100 credit which means you have to buy something in order to get it.
Real world or Apple fans? Really why would you even care?! Go enjoy your iDevices! They are very good products! Oh and btw Its not a credit! Get your facts straight its a year of free xbox music streaming service (yes, itunes doesn’t currently have it maybe that’s why you guys are crying so much about it) not a $100 credit to be used to buy anything else!
Well excuse us for having fun with the fact that even Microsoft has so little faith in the Surface(and is also so dishonest) that they’re paying people to stand in line.
I really feel bad for Microsoft fans. The company they love and admire can”t launch a product so compelling it can stand on its own and draw crowds that they have to bride them to buy the latest and greatest. Maybe if Microsoft hadn’t dicked around the past decade and actually created something that moved mankind forward the public at large would be more receptive. At this point, i fear, it’s too little to late. It’s no longer about single devices but how devices easily communicate with one another and Apple has that in spades. Good luck catching up.
You make a good point that by playing it safe and being stagnant Microsoft has lost the worlds confidence that they can do anything extraordinary. When the perception is they only moved forward because they had to it further makes people skeptical and wary. There’s also their problem being beholden to business while trying to appeal to consumers. Apple doesn’t have to worry as much about that and hasn’t plastered obstacles like blue tiles all over their OS.
They don’t even have to do anything extraordinary.
How about just send a clear message about what they are doing?
The 2 different flavors of windows tablet, one of which isn’t even windows in the sense that it won’t run windows software just sends the message that MS has no direction, and no idea where they are going or what they wish to accomplish.
Take that with past missteps of backstabbing played for sure partners, the failure of Zune, the 2.5 second lifespan of Kin, the lose of faith in windows leading to the crumbling hegemony in business and enterprise….
The only 2 things MS has going on is their mouse and xbox.
@ darknite,
So right. And I hate their mouse. I have several of Apples magic mouse, so I just leave one at work, at home, etc. no moving parts to break or get clogged. just love it.
Just a thought.
Going to bride the customers. I know a lot of IT weenies have a hard time finding a bride but most women would not be interested in Microsoft’s offer.
It’s not a matter of Apple fans being superior…….just the company from whom we buy our devices. Companies that are confident in their product don’t use gift card gimmicks on release dates……especially the company which sells an OS 7 times as expensive as any other OS available. Their lack of confidence in Win8 (lets remember Vista) is the only reason it’s $70 instead of the usual $200. If you can’t deal with us saying Microsoft (not you) sucks, then why visit a MAC commentary site? These comments are about a company, not its customers.
I don’t feel superior.
It’s clear that MS feels inferior in the tablet market, however.
How is giving away money to get people in line for appearances sake sad/bad? If it is not obvious to you, then no one can disabuse you of the notion that this is some genius marketing ploy.
You “fear for the future” because people are heckling a company?!?! Really?!?! There are a lot of actual problems in the world, relating to people’s health and lives. But you believe people posting on an Apple fan site snickering about MS is a harbinger of civilizations demise. Sweet, dude.
“I fear for the future some times”
Being a Microsoft fan, I can see your fear, but don’t worry.
Apple has got you covered. When Microsoft screws the pooch big time, Apple will have a solution for you.
Microsoft is bribing 100 people to stand in line so it looks like there’s more demand for the Surface than there actually is.
Are you saying that’s not desperate, john? Are you seriously saying that’s not desperate? You have to be kidding, right?
Is Machine Gun Kelly performing at this MS opening ? 🙂 that alone is worth the wait in line LOOL
I here Beiber is on tour.
iPad mini……ordered
Ditto!
Have they no shame?
Interesting to read Pogue on the RT. Great machine hardware and pants software – So, no change there (apart from the good hardware bit – I wonder which design house they bought to deliver that )
🙂
Can someone tell me how you would actually use a Surface as a laptop? It seems to me you can only stand it on a completely flat surface. It seems like such a fundamental flaw. I can’t believe that every single review doesn’t write it off because of that alone.
Thanks for your insightful and persuasive comment, Steve. SO glad you’re here.
Actually, what I really mean, of course, is that it’s sickening that the most scathing, foul insult a certain kind of man (boy?) can come out with is:
1. Part of a woman’s body
2. And, ironically, one of the parts that he has and will spend a considerable part of is life either touching or thinking about touching.
Please refrain from such comments, you pathetic creep.
Thanks for saying it for me. Steve has shown himself to be working at the upper limit of his modest intellectual capacity here. I guess we can’t expect much more from him.
Why are some men so angry at the fair sex?
If he’s the youngest child in a family of 8 kids, 7 girls and 1 boy, I can see a little resentment towards his know it all sisters.
But this guy hates women.
I am an Apple fan, but this headline bothers me. There is a clear difference between giving incentives for someone to get in line (where they must choose to purchase somethign) versus outright paying them to do so. While either case is sad for Microsoft, they are not actually handing random strangers $100 to stand in the line as your headline implies. They are giving paying customers an additional $100 incentive to stand in line and then make a purchase.
Again, while this is still sad for Microsoft, I find your headline unnecessarily worded as to grab attention and clicks.
They paid people, kids really, to come open a Microsoft Store and see a music performer they liked.
We all knew it was a bribe so local TV would come and cover it.
Now they are giving out $100 in XBox use, to people, kids really, to come to see the first Surface RT and get free XBox money.
We all know it is a bribe so the local TV will come and cover the new product.
The headline is correct and only someone with a Microsoft tattoo on his/hers backside would say otherwise.
You base your argument on a total lack of facts. I am a former Apple engineer, huge fan, and have$100,000+ investment in Apple currently. I own no Microsoft stock except what perhaps some of my mutual funds may or may not own.
I have no tattoos.
Paying someone to stand in line presumes that once I reach the head of the line, I can take my $100 and go home. This was not offered.
I do agree this was an incentive to draw a crowd and hopefully gain some publicity. Again, sad on Microsoft’s part. Doesn’t mean it is a payment any more than it means I am a Microsoftie.
I feel superior.
Ah yes, Microsoft fans. They just cannot get past their ego issues and their hate of Apple and it’s vastly superior operating systems. They are just sad and pitiful. And most likely they will never change and just stay in their funk.
Cool. A bunch of 10 year old kids lined up hoping to be able to buy some weird virtual coins or something via X-Box with the credit. Hopefully Microsoft sells AA batteries or something.
One can almost feel sorry for Microsoft, almost. LoL
Hold onto those feelings rad tech!
Top, thought provoking post there Steve
At the Microsoft Store in Costa Mesa I counted approximately 65 people when the doors opened a little before 10am.
To be fare, more people showed up after the 10am opening.
On a side note, the Surface keyboard types better than I thought it would.
I think giving a $100 credit is a great strategy. That’s $100 LESS PROFIT. This is an early mark down. After Macworld in January, the $100 mark down will be permanent. I like this strategy a lot!