I went to the mall today and while I was there I visited both the Apple Store and the Microsoft store. Of course I admit to being biased toward Microsoft and against Apple.
I loved the Microsoft store. It was fun. It was colorful. I liked the set up of the store. And I really liked some of the computers I saw. Dell is doing some great things with tablets (that Dell Venue 8 Pro looks like sometime I could enjoy), convertibles, and all in ones. I saw a really slick Sony convertible as well. I saw a 4G capable Windows tablet as well. I left wanting several systems that I don’t really need.
Then I went to the Apple store. It struck me as sterile and bland. Mono chrome rather than colorful. The staff were all wearing the same color t-shirt and there were there in intimidating numbers. The Microsoft store employees wore t-shirts but they were wearing a couple of different color shirts. The Apple store had some areas on the flow that were roped off. Not sure why. I had trouble figuring out what was being sold at various tables in the Apple store. labeling was not so good and they seem to use iPads everywhere. And everything looks alike. The sizes are different but not much else. I found it boring.
There were people playing Xbox One games in front of the Microsoft store as well. All in all the Apple store left me feeling cold while the Microsoft store felt warm and friendly.