Best Buy Launches In-Store Windows Store in Los Angeles and Rolls Out an Online Version

The announcement came a few weeks ago that Best Buy will be providing floor space to Microsoft in several hundred outlets across the United States and Canada.  On August 7, 2013, the Best Buy in West Los Angeles will launch the very first Windows Store of this kind, kicking off the store-within-a-store march by offering special deals, live music, a DJ, food and beverages, and personal appearances by pro and national soccer stars. If you happen to be in the West LA area on that day, check out the following event page to attend: Windows Store Launch at Best Buy West LA.

If you can't make it to the launch in West LA, you can still take a gander at what Microsoft will be offering inside the Best Buy stores, but without the launch fanfare. A day before the official launch, Best Buy has unveiled the Windows Store online specialty shop, where you can peruse Microsoft technologies and even purchase online directly from Best Buy: Windows Store Specialty Shop

It will be interesting to see how this scenario shapes up and if Microsoft can energize the public to take better notice of its own Surface devices. Personally, I believe that if more consumers could actually see and demo Surface devices, the tablets would not have failed miserably. I own both a Surface RT and a Surface Pro, and love them both. I believe Microsoft is making the right move, embedding itself, its technologies, and its devices into a more publicly accessible venue. And, with the Surface 2 coming this Fall, it should be the right time, ensuring that it doesn't have to rely solely on an internal marketing team that has spent years playing catchup to Android and iOS.

The Windows Store is not the only specialty shop that Best Buy accommodates, though. Best Buy also houses the Samsung Experience Shop, so Microsoft will still have to fight to impress consumers enough to bypass the Samsung area in lieu of a Microsoft vision.

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