Managing Director of Microsoft Australia, Pip Marlow posted this morning that Sydney will be the first Microsoft flagship store in Asia Pacific. That announcement gets a little more interesting when you realise, this is the first brick and mortar store outside the US for Microsoft, highlighting how important the Australian market is for the Redmond-based company.
The store will be located at the Westfield shopping center in Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall. It will provide an opportunity to experience the best of Microsoft products like Windows PCs, Surface devices, Windows Phones, Xbox One, Office and more in an innovative and vibrant setting. What that innovation in retail is, is yet to be confirmed, but it would be great to see some inclusions like a HoloLens demo area.
In addition, the store will feature an Answer Desk, think Genius Bar, but by Microsoft. Given the marketshare of Windows vs Apple, expect these guys to really know their stuff as the variety of questions that could be thrown at staff. Its designed to be a one-stop shop for questions, troubleshooting, repairs and support for all Microsoft software and hardware. Altogether, these products and services empower our customers to do more, achieve more.
Microsoft currently has more than 110 physical stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, 17 store-in-store locations in China, online stores in 189 countries, and we’re thrilled to add a flagship store in Australia to that list.
Retail stores for Microsoft showcase 1st party products, they also highlight and feature 3rd party products that leverage or extend Microsoft products and services. One example of this in the Santa Clara store that features 3D printers from Makerbot, as well as a number of headphones, speakers and tablets. In the past, there have been exclusive products and deals that are only available at retail stores, so to have one in Australia would open the door to those opportunities being available locally.
Microsoft aren’t providing a launch date for the store yet, but do say there’ll be more information as the date approaches.
More information at Microsoft News.
