Leak: Inside the Microsoft Store With Wall-Sized Screens and the Answers Bar

We’ve been wondering what the Microsoft’s retail shops are going to be like. Well, according to a Powerpoint presentation leaked to us, it’s going to make the Apple Store look downright boring. UPDATE: Microsoft comments.

The presentation is by Lippicott, a “design and brand strategy” consultant firm with extensive retail experience that it appears Microsoft has hired to help develop the store’s concept, principles, and design. It looks pretty legit to us—if it’s a fake, it’s fairly elaborate, with detailed graphics, research, plans and even rough store layouts.

Essentially, Microsoft is taking the best elements from the Apple Store, Sony Style and other “flagship” stores. The main focuses are going to be Windows 7, Xbox, PCTV (Windows Media Center) Surface and Windows Mobile, revolving around this concept customer they call “Emily,” who’s basically a younger version of your mom, since they make all the buying decisions.

Frank Shaw w/ Waggener Edstrom, left a comment below on behalf of Microsoft, implying that many of these concepts are merely that and not final plans:

“As a part of our process in briefing creative agencies, we shared some early prototypes and concepts of our retail store plans. No final decisions have been made. As we previously announced, we are on track to open retail stores this Fall.”

That said, it’s still probably a pretty good indication of how Microsoft and its consultants are thinking about their store, at least at the beginning of this month, since the presentation is dated July 7.

Here are the highlights of the slides, if you just wanna skip to the meat of the 140 slides we got and the 54 we posted:

• There’s going to be a Digital Media Wall—a massive screen—that wraps around the entire store showing various messages, which you can see in some of the slides
• Personalization is something they’re stressing big time, with fancy areas devoted to customizing computers and gadgets using an “Xbox style” interface at various kiosks
• Here’s a sample store layout
• Lots of Surface demos
• Stage areas for Windows 7, Windows Media Center (PCTV) (it’s kinda surprising how much they’re pushing PCTV, actually), Windows Mobile and netbooks
• Their take on the Genius Bar is the Answers Bar (or Guru Bar or Windows Bar, depending on which slide you look at, showing it’s slightly up in the air, though we prefer Answers Bar since its sounds like slightly less like a Genius Bar ripoff)
Apple Store-style table layouts
• Some of the stores they profiled for ideas are Nike, Nokia, Sony, Apple and AT&T
• They’re already planning out huge demos and events around Project Natal and their secret mobile project Pink
• A fancy Microsoft shopping bag
• You can pay to have your birthday party at the Microsoft Store

In short, if it’s anything like what Lippincott is planning, it sounds absolutely amazing, and we’ll be lining up the first day it opens.






















































Revamped Sony S-Series Walkman pops up in leaked press photos

The well-connected chaps at Sony Insider have it on very good word that the above press shot is showing what’ll be a new addition to Sony’s Walkman lineup, likely a revision to its popular S Series. Hard to tell scale, but looks like either the screen’s gotten bigger or the device smaller. In addition to the four color options — red, blue, pink, and just peeking in on the right, black — there’s also that perforated grill on the front, which we figure is a good sign of some speaker. Excited? Hold that thought — according to the mysterious source, this PMP isn’t scheduled for arrival anytime soon.

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Revamped Sony S-Series Walkman pops up in leaked press photos originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Updated Dell Inspiron 13 appears on Dell Singapore site — and it looks kinda hot

We can’t say we’ve ever found the Inspiron 13 particularly compelling, but there’s a new model up on the Dell Singapore site right now and we’re this close to falling in love — it’s thinner and lighter, takes some nice design cues from the Inspiron Mini and Studio lines, and the configuration with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 graphics costs just S$1,399 ($962). Oh, and there’s also an LED-backlit 1366 x 768 display, HDMI / VGA out, an ExpressCard/34 slot, and 1394 — pretty great for under a grand. We’re on pins and needles waiting for official US pricing information: not only do we expect it to be slightly lower, you just know Dell will be blowing these things out when back-to-school rolls around.

[Thanks, Quaysar]

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Updated Dell Inspiron 13 appears on Dell Singapore site — and it looks kinda hot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Storm 2 dummy unit appears in Verizon systems


Looks like RIM and Verizon are getting things in place for the Storm 2 — this picture posted on CrackBerry purportedly shows an entry for retail mockup units of RIM touchscreen sequel in Verizon’s inventory system that seems to confirm the rumored 9550 model number is the real deal. Considering how leaky RIM’s been lately this doesn’t surprise us any too much, but we’re still waiting to see a Storm 2 that actually functions before we say an actual launch is imminent.

[Via PhoneArena]

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BlackBerry Storm 2 dummy unit appears in Verizon systems originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More alleged Chrome OS screenshots for your viewing pleasure

Well, here we go again — another set of unverified, likely-fake Google Chrome OS screenshots has just landed in our inbox. Our tipster claims that while most apps are online, Picasa runs locally for photo and movie viewing, and the “System” tab displays the contents of SD cards and digital cameras. Do we believe it? Well, no — all of this is just too easily mocked up — but it’s certainly interesting stuff, and there’s something about that super-nasty blue scroll bar that we find oddly intriguing, even though it’s mysteriously missing some pixels at the top. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is real — hit the gallery and let us know what you think.

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More alleged Chrome OS screenshots for your viewing pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Probably-fake video of the PS3 slim surfaces

We’re pretty much assuming this video of a purportedly “stolen” PS3 slim at a street market in the Philippines is fake, but given the mounting pile of evidence and Sony’s other recent leaks, we feel compelled to share it with you. Nothing particularly amazing here — it’s a blurry video of a black plastic box with that new rounded-off logo style from the PSPgo on it — but if it’s real it’s certainly interesting. So, what say you — KIRF, or the real deal?

[Thanks, Khattab]

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Probably-fake video of the PS3 slim surfaces originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Pre in cahoots with Dutch provider Hi?

The GSM version of Palm’s Pre looks all set for a UK announcement next week on O2. Now we get this, a Pre spotted on the support site for Dutch carrier Hi in The Netherlands. Fine, but what you may not know is that O2 and Hi (part of KPN) are also deeply intertwined with Telefonica — O2 being owned by Telefonica and KPN being an “integrated carrier” with a long history of Telefonica courtship rumors. So, putting two and two together might equal a September launch if that previous Telefonica rumor was true.

[Via Tweakers, thanks Harm H.]

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Palm Pre in cahoots with Dutch provider Hi? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Nokia 6790 Surge / Mako gets a QIK onto the small screen

Having already given you the AT&T spec sheet and images on this new Nokia, the only things missing are launch date, price, and a bit of video. Well, a janky QIK video just made its way to YouTube claiming that Nokia’s Mako is coming to AT&T in mid-July as the 6790 Surge. It should be “priced pretty well” but those details haven’t been finalized. So if a quick messaging device running S60 beneath a 2.4-inch 240×320 pixel display with HSDPA data and 2 megapixel camera is enough motivation to prompt another mouse-click then by all means, click through for the video overview provided after the break. Stay cool, bye.

Continue reading Video: Nokia 6790 Surge / Mako gets a QIK onto the small screen

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Video: Nokia 6790 Surge / Mako gets a QIK onto the small screen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nikon D3000, D300s images materialize

What’s this? An as of yet unannounced Nikon D3000 camera has allegedly popped up in press photo format, flaunting itself as what appears to be a slimmed down entry level DSLR. The gang LensTip have analyzed the pic pretty thoroughly against the D5000 and have concluded it’s got a smaller body, no HDMI connector, no microphone (so much for a movie mode), and likely no articulating display. Additionally, we’ve got from Nikon Rumors what’s purported to be our first glimpse at the D300s body. Given the angle of the shot, the only difference we can spot is the inclusion of a microphone — then again, it could just be some subtle image manipulation trickery from a rabid fan. See it and decide for yourself after the break.

[Via Electronista]

Read – Nikon D3000 is coming
Read – Another Nikon D300s picture

Continue reading Nikon D3000, D300s images materialize

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Nikon D3000, D300s images materialize originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm’s Mojo SDK beta for webOS leaks into the wild

Palm has done its darnedest to keep the riffraff away from webOS development while it finishes up its Mojo SDK for webOS development, but the floodgates have finally opened with an opportune leak of Mojo to Torrent-vill. Naturally, Palm will still be locking out unapproved developers from releasing their creations to the App Catalog for the time being, but this should hopefully give the everyman a chance to hone apps in anticipation of a day of approval — and should really beef up the homebrew community in the meantime. The other good news is that Palm is actually adding developers to its “early access program” at a fairly rapid pace, announcing that it doubled its membership this week, and plans to double it again next week. It’s all coming together.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Palm’s Mojo SDK beta for webOS leaks into the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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