Tech Industry

The Engadget Show this week featured Steve Ballmer:

http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/cfad499

BoyGenius has the Droid review up and fankly, they’re pretty smitten with it.   It looks a little "square" to us but we have to admit, that 850×480 screen  has us a bit green. The "not on AT&T’s network" part also sounds nice except for international travel. 

They say the Android 2.0 "Eclair" software is also much more refined.  It is interesting to note that this is the first Android-based phone with the ARM Cortex A8-class chips that the iPhone and Pre have.  In fact, it has the same TI OMAP 3430 CPU as the Pre.

Interestingly, they mention that this won’t compete with the iPhone:

The Droid isn’t an iPhone competitor because nothing at this point in time is an iPhone competitor besides the new iPhone. And things don’t have to be right now. Everyone can eat. So will the Motorola Droid be successful? Absolutely, we think. It will eat in to BlackBerry sales, Windows Mobile sales, and positively murder any lingering Palm Pre sales. It’s that good. Did you notice how Verizon still hasn’t announced the BlackBerry Storm2?

You can’t underestimate the love lavished on Amazon’s Kindle among UK first adopters – the giant retailer’s sold a fair few of its eBook reading devices to Mac user’s here in the UK – and now it seems the company plans to release a Kindle reader for the Mac.

The news follows Microsoft’s declaration during its Windows 7 launch that Amazon is developing a reader for that platform.

Now Fast Company informs Amazon is developing the same for the Mac, citing a company spokesperson who said, “Yes, we are working on a Kindle app for Mac.”

This is interesting news as Apple allegedly engages in development of its own eBook-reading solution (in part) with its rumoured tablet product, as activity in the eBook space increases in intensity.
 

Regrets, we’ve all had a few, and sometimes Hell’s pathway’s paved with good intentions. This morning we’re hearing all about the first emerging v.1.0 flaws in Microsoft’s newly-released Windows 7.0 OS – and it looks like poor impoverished student PC users have been hit with the newest identified bug in the newly-shipping Microsoft public beta.

Engadget is reporting that “quite a few people have had issues installing the downloadable $29 student upgrade edition on 32-bit Vista”.

Seems the file doesn’t unpack properly, and rather than becoming an OS installer magically transforms itself into one executable file and two non-functioning bundles. And then the whole install process bugs out, as it tries to run a 64-bit task on these 32-bit systems.

Microsoft is “looking into it”, the report states.

Still – looks like some of the people are having some fantastic parties – is that a bloatware burger??

Nokia’s move to slam a lawsuit down against the Apple juggernaut’s profit phone hasn’t dented iPhone enthusiasm one little bit.

The device is impacting everywhere right now, with Apple’s iPhone component partners in particularly jubilant mood as millions of the devices shift every 13 weeks.

Don’t believe us? Just take a look at a gaggle of small Taiwanese firms – Yageo, Cyntec, Polytronics Technology, Mag.Layers Scientific-Technics, Thinking Electronic and TXC – all of whom faced steep revenue decline in the current quarter in the generally depressed tech market.

As we know, Apple isn’t part of the “generally depressed tech market”, which is why those small firms are breathing a little easier following this week’s Apple results call, as they now know they’re going to see, “narrower revenue declines or flat revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009 thanks to the popularity of Apple’s iPhone”.

That’s good news for all Apple’s component suppliers, and pretty good news for the company’s growing army of iPhone app developers. To get a sense of that opportunity take a look at the Business Week video we posted earlier, and consider this:

DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole thinks the worldwide mobile and portable games market will reach $11.7 billion by 2014, which includes the PSP and DS, with Apple’s devices pushing 24 percent of software sales. He does expect Nintendo and Sony to lead the pack, but what’s not to love about Apple’s elegant and simple direct route to consumers through the App Store.

Happy consumers equate to happy developers (particularly since they can now get creative with in-app purchasing), happy carriers (just swoon at AT&T’s recent turn-on of 3.2 million iPhones in the US in its last quarter) and happy hardware and component manufacturers.

All this success is creating its own brand awareness mindwave, with a generation of US computer users now seeing Apple as the company which offers the solutions they can most relate to.

Think about what came out of this week’s Web 2.0 Summit, where Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy sat down with five US teens to find out what tomorrow’s people think about all this pervasive internet-connected social network-driven apps and taps milawakey…the upshot, of course, is “Teens love Facebook and Apple…and are confused by Twitter.”

“The kids also had good things to say about Apple. One said Apple had “won” with it’s “I’m a Mac vs. I’m a PC” television commercials, while another declared, “Windows would be a good prison guard, because it always locks up.””

Interestingly, the teens remarked that “all the hot girls use Hotmail”, and none of them owned an iPhone, which just goes to reinforce the notion that despite our excitement at the hottest and newest technologies, most human beings take time getting down to drink at the new tech pond.

So, where’s all this going? Quite plainly put – while Apple’s competitors seem engaged in an endless race just to catch up on where the company was yesterday, Apple is already in poll position to take on another apparition once today’s teens turn twenty and begin to invest in the gadgets they love once they start to pull in some of their own money.

And Microsoft? Microsoft, for all its anti-Apple-seeming ad campaign, is really engaged on a mission to convince Windows XP users (who let’s face it are customarily an older bunch of consumers than tomorrow’s people) that Win 7 (which has a few set-up problems in MediaCentre, we’re hearing) is as cutting-edge and cool as the Mac Redmond really really wants its existing veteran customers to avoid defection too.

No sense underestimating Ballmer’s boys and girls, however, they have succeeded in breaking some sales records with their new OS – but while Apple’s partners are currently seeing success, Microsoft’s wide collective PC industry continues to attempt to manage its way through a shrinking market, praying the software firm will make it rain with it’s all-new OS release.

Apple’s betting that rain falls over to the California coastline too, and so are those small and large component manufacturers way over there in China and Taiwan…

Hope you enjoyed this spattering of news, fact, and opinionated speculation.

Apparently apps are the latest thing for businesses.

http://bizweektv.pb.feedroom.com/businessweek/bizweektv/pboneclip/player.swf?Environment=&SiteID=bizweektv&SiteName=businessweek&SkinName=pboneclip&ChannelID=&StoryID=1b74ff7729df7d7a4651fa513cf6fa0351c49bbe&Volume=.5&MoreVideoURL=http%3A//feedroom.businessweek.com&Org=businessweek&rf=&VideoPlayer.VideoPlayer1.StoryLinkURL=http%3A//bizweektv.pb.feedroom.com/businessweek/bizweektv/pboneclip/player.html%3Ffr_story%3D%25StoryID%25&quality=high&OneClipEmbedCodeHeight=249&VideoPlayer.VideoPlayer1.JavascriptFolderURL=http%3A//static.feedroom.com/affiliate/_common/js&OneClipEmbedCodeURL=http%3A//bizweektv.pb.feedroom.com/businessweek/bizweektv/pboneclip/player.swf&AutoPlay=true&OneClipEmbedCodeWidth=300&VideoPlayer.VideoPlayer1.SendEMailURL=http%3A//frgallery.feedroom.com/custom/playerbuilder/feedroom/sendMail.jsp&SWF_URL=http%3A//bizweektv.pb.feedroom.com/businessweek/bizweektv/pboneclip/player.swf

Google continues rapid development of its Google Chrome browser for Mac, which the company has previously hinted will be up for v.1 release before Christmas.

The new release, Google Chrome Developer Preview, is a  release that now includes support for printing and a QuickTime plug-in to enable multimedia content. The release also features, “lots of important Extensions changes” and a few fixed bugs.

“Be sure to read the Known Issues if you are running Chrome for Mac,” the company warns on its development pages.

Issues include: if an older version of Chrome is running when this version is automatically installed, the running version will not quit cleanly and will spike the processor at 100%; according to the developers, it will be necessary to Force Quit the application.

Listed changes in this version also include:

• Printing now works. (Issue: 13158)
• [r28871] Autoupdates no longer cause problems if Chrome is already running. (Issue: 14610)
• [r29388] Hitting backspace while IME is active does no longer go back in history. (Issue: 25000)
• [r28837] QuickTime plugin no longer crashes, and often displays properly (though there are still bugs to be ironed out).
• [r28837] Plugin whitelist has been removed, so that Chrome will attempt to load all NPAPI plugins.  Expect more plugin crashes.
• [r29396] Ctrl-tab switches tabs again. (Issue: 24921)
• [r29458] Cmd-` switches windows again. (Issue: 24817)

Psystar isn’t just going to sell its Hackintosh technology to OEMs. It is now selling it to the general public for $50.  Dubbed Rebel EFI and a 8MB download, the software promises to let PCs equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem CPUs to run Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard.”  There is no word on whether or not Intel Atom processors, which are part of most netbooks, will be supported.

Featuring Psystar’s newest technology for allowing for the smooth interfacing between operating systems and generic Intel hardware, Rebel EFI allows for the easy installation of multiple operating systems on a single system. The authenticated version allows for the permanent installtion of these OS’s on your system, as well as providing the DUBL, supported hardware profile features and related drivers, and support for the application.

Rebel EFI is free to try and download, though it will have limited hardware functionality and a run-time of two hours.

See the FAQ here.

It is really eerie how Microsoft’s "copy, copy, copy" philosophy pervades all of their endeavors. Instead of creating a new experience for potential customers, they’ve put different color shirts on employees and changed the tables slightly from every Apple store you’ve ever seen.  Videos of Scottsdale Store opening below:

As Daring Fireball points out: Creepy.

Windows 7 is now officially shipping and Microsoft’s got some new ads out.  

Separately, Apple has released a Knowledge Base article detailing support for Windows 7 on Bootcamp before the end of the year.  While Apple’s full support makes installation easier, many have had luck installing Windows 7 RTM on BootCamp partitions already (see Giz Post).  Interestingly, Apple lists a slew of Macs which "won’t be supported" on Windows 7, all released in 2006.

A far more popular method of running Windows on Mac hardware is on virtualization either through the free (but limited) VirtualBox software or by $40 Parallels or the new $67 VMWare Fusion.

vids via Crunchgear

This is what we like to see.  Comcast is entering the 3G/4G wireless network market, likely becoming an MVNO on Sprint’s wireless 3G/WiMAX network (anyone else have 4G?). 

They are offering a combination package for $50/month in select metro areas.  What’s REALLY interesting here is that Comcast also has its Digital Voice service which works over VoIP.  It isn’t a stretch to think that they’ll soon be offering their voice services as a wireless product, unless Sprint has something to say about that.

Seeing as the US has got a semi-consumer friendly administration in office, the FCC will likely make sure that Comcast doesn’t throw the kill switch on other VoIP providers like Skype and Vonage.  As this kind of service becomes more popular, Computer companies like Apple will start throwing 4G radios into their iPods and iPhones.

Apple developers are currently testing the latest pre-release beta, Mac OS X 10.6.2, and the good news is the software appears relatively bug-free, suggesting it may ship imminently.

There’s two big reasons Mac users are waiting for the new update to ship: Number one, it is required in order to use a Magic Mouse; Number two: it reportedly patches the dreaded Guest account data-munching bug that has caused such distress.

Apple conceded the existence of that bug earlier last week, after multiple reports complained of its existence.

As reported by OS X Brazil, (and reported earlier by MacRumors) developer build, Mac OS X 10.6.2 Build 10C531 fixes the one outstanding issue related to Image Capture mentioned in the previous build (10C527f), as well as half a dozen other problems related to ColorSync, Dock crashes, GraphicsDrivers, and QuartzCore. Build 10C531 lists no known issues, although this may not be a clue that the development is wrapping up.

The site also published the seed notes for the release, elements of which we have republished here:

“Mac OS X 10.6.2 build 10C531 Seed Note

Known Issues

– None

Focus Areas (Changes in 10C531):

QuartzCore
– Resolve a Ken Burns effects issues on iMovie
– Resolves an issue with Image Capture scanning.

An extensive list of updated components in the release then follows.

Adobe has introduced a free public beta of Lightroom 3, it software for digital photographers.

Adobe’s Julieanne Kost has created three videos which detail 25 new minor refinements in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 that could impact your workflow, these clips are available here.

Writing on the Lightroom blog, developer Tom Hogarty said, “We’ve come a long way since our very first public beta on January 9th 2006 at Macworld.(We didn’t even have a crop tool in the first release!) For this latest release we went back to the drawing board and revisited what we believe are the fundamental priorities of our customers: Performance and Image Quality.

“Lightroom has been stripped down to the "engine block" in order to rebuild a performance architecture that meets the needs of photographers with growing image collections and increasing megapixels. The raw processing engine has also received an overhaul right down to the fundamental demosaic algorithms that now allows unprecedented sharpening and noise reduction results.”

Lightroom users can organize, enhance, and showcase their images all from within a fast application that’s available for Mac and Windows.

Some of the new features include:

• Brand new performance architecture, building for the future of growing image libraries
• State-of-the-art noise reduction to help you perfect your high ISO shots
• Watermarking tool that helps you customize and protect your images with ease
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio—designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images, you can now save and export your slideshows as videos and include audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Film grain simulation tool for enhancing your images to look as gritty as you want
• New import handling designed to make importing streamlined and easy
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo sharing sites directly from inside Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)

Full release notes are located here.

Download the software here.
 

Hmm – looks like Microsoft’s management may get to breathe easy for a little longer on news from the UK that the company’s Windows 7 OS has just become the biggest grossing pre-order ever on Amazon UK.

The software has grabbed the top spot from the last Harry Potter novel and is already significantly more successful than Windows Vista. The OS launches tomorrow.

Amazon.co.uk says the only item to shift more than Windows 7 in the past three months is Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code follow-up The Lost Symbol. Indeed, pre-orders for Windows 7 in the first eight hours of going on sale outnumbered those of Windows Vista’s entire pre-order period.

Managing director of Amazon, Brian McBride said, ‘The launch of Windows 7 has superseded everyone’s expectations, storming ahead of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ as the biggest-grossing pre-order product of all-time at Amazon.co.uk, and demand is still going strong.”

For all its UK success, Microsoft’s not faring quite as well in the more populous US market – sure, it’s currently in the top three slots, but Ballmer’s boys are bound to be aware that Snow Leopard is the fourth biggest selling slice of software in the US.

PS: Knowing the fate of Microsoft’s new OS will offer an interesting insight into Apple’s future success tempting Windows users across to the Mac.
 

Apple’s European chief says the company is an agent of disruptive industry change, confirms the company is seeing colossal growth in Europe – and seems a little anxious about iPod nano sales.

Speaking to the Guardian, Pascal Cagni, Apple’s general manager and vice-president, EMEA, came on strong: “We have right now the best ever product line, we keep saying this, and it’s fuelled by the fact you have got the portable line where we display growth of 35% year-on-year.”

Cagni confirmed that Europe’s education markets are falling for Apple products, with “immense success all over Europe” in back to school sales.

Not just that, but also in market share the Apple star is shining, he confirmed, “We have typically above 20-25% market share in each of the [European] countries.

Cagni talks a little about Apple’s retail strategy – its online store, own-brand retail stores, premium resellers and high street retailers.

“Our position in the US is at a higher base, penetration of computers is even higher there,” he said, adding, “Last year, in 09, we had more openings outside the US than in the US. Europe is full of potential. And our online stores are seen and recognised as one of the best ecommerce sites for consumer experience.”

On iPod nano sales, he notes, “We believe it [the market] is not doing justice to the [iPod] nano, where for £115 you’ve got 8GB plus the camera… We renewed the category.”

“Our job is to better carry the message. We need to express it better so that people get convinced of what we do.”

Additional factoids from the report:

–  EU has faster growth than in the US because “penetration of computers is even higher there”.

– The company is about open its 23rd store in the UK.

– iPhone price war?: Orange and Vodafone will start selling the iPhone by early next year along with O2, but Cagni won’t confirm whether that could change the handset’s price, only saying “we don’t dictate the price”.

—No Beatles for sale: “I would love to say yes, but nothing to announce.”

Interesting notes from Taiwan this morning as we sift through the many miles of rapturous reporting that Apple’s business plan (make good products, don’t brag, respect customers enough to give them things they enjoy using and so make money) continues to work, we come across yet another hint at the company’s future plans.

Apple’s results have generated stellar stock movements, not just as regards AAPL stock, but also that of key partners. Early morning news from the East reveal that shares of Apple’s contract manufacturer, Foxconn, have also shot up 6.33 percent at time of writing.

That’s nice, but that’s not the news…seems the company’s parent firm, Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry has plans to build an all-new $1 billion factory in China that “could be gearing up for the next generation of Apple products,” and that speculation doesn’t come from us, but from MarketWatch.

That Apple is already working up to five years ahead in terms of its product plans should surprise absolutely no one. No company could deliver such a substantial growth story since 1999 without having sat down and mapped out some kind of a vision, Apple’s boss, Steve Jobs, is known to adopt five and longer-term plans when it comes to business.

There’s no way yet we lesser mortals can predict what this new billion dollar factory is going to be churning out, but relatively recent moves such as the acquisition of PA Semi and the decision to create a huge data centre in North Carolina can only lend a little extra spice to any near-term speculation we can create.

In the medium-term, we hope for more notions of what’s to come at WWDC next year, when we consider it likely the company will begin to explain just some of the ideas it hopes to explore in a future iteration of Mac OS X, now it has been able to strip the majority of legacy PowerPC code from within Snow Leopard, which should be seen as a framework for future innovation.

With the accent of industry innovation – at least on the software side – now focused on cloud-based services and pervasive internet devices, we’re curious just how important the product we all now call the tablet in certain knowledge the MultiTouch device we see will be something other than we expected, we’re wondering just what kind of product family Apple believes is worth convincing a key partner into building a billion dollar factory to create. Though certainly part of that fabricator’s output will be future model iPhones.

Back to watching the betting on new product upgrades today. Don’t be surprised if Apple keeps us waiting though – the company can be like that from time-to-time. After all, they already have plans to fly something in by Christmas.

We’re deciphering Apple executives and their fourth quarter statements right now – but the initial take away at this stage is the company’s mysterious admission that “air freight costs” are set to rise "abnormally" in the company’s first quarter.

Now, we know we’re all incredibly curious as to just what Apple’s hatching up for its future product road map, but company executives have so far declined to disclose just what it is they’re planning to send into flight. And they don’t seem to want anyone else to be too excited about it – so ditch those tablet rumour-writing pens, folks.

All execs have said at this point is that these increased air freight costs are “nothing to do with iPhone”, and “are about getting units into the channel for the holiday.”

Units of what? This is bound to inflame the Apple rumour machine.

Specifically, the exchange ran as follows:

Toni Sacconaghim an analyst at Sanford Bernstein asked about Apple’s stated availability issues as per the iPhone 3GS, questioned if component acquisition problems were to blame and asked, "Related to that you had also mentioned that air freight you expected to go up next quarter as a reason for gross margins, I’m not sure if that was in relation to phones or anything else but perhaps you can address that as well?"

Tim Cook confirmed demand for iPhone 3GS simply exceeded supply, "I think you would probably put that in your first category of a good old fashioned demand issue which is a nice problem to have in the scheme of things. Now, because it was outstripping supply it creates component shortages as we go out to the market to secure more components," he said, confirming the problem is pretty much resolved (Ed note: hopefully, unless everyone in China buys an iPhone this month).

Then he hit us with the rumour-raiser: "The air freight is not related to the iPhone so these are unrelated topics. But, generally speaking the air freight is planned to get enough units in to the channel in time for the holidays and is necessary for that reason."

Sacconaghi speculated that Q1 air freight costs most likely are often higher than in other quarters, as company management move assets around the planet to deal with Christmas demand. Then CFO Oppenheimer hit us with a fact to leave us baffled: "It’s more than normal so you’re correct that in general we spend more in freight in Q1. However, this increase is larger than usual. I’m sorry I can’t be specific on the product but it’s an abnormal sequential increase."

So, just to clarify, Apple is spending more on air freight in the future quarter as it struggles to cope with an "abnormal sequential increase". We’re wondering what this could be, dismissing an iPhone nano, tablet, new Mac and so on, we find ourselves speculating on an iPod touch with a camera. Though we’re not sure the new name – abnormal sequential increase – will catch on…

We love Seeking Alpha, by the way.

PS: To cite Shakespeare, this could of course turn out to be much ado about nothing, but if it’s not connected to keeping iPhone inventories strong, then what is the cause? Curious, isn’t it?

http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1300014922/code/cnbcplayershare

"You’re going to see a great set of results from Apple," Richard Windsor from Nomura said Monday ahead of the Apple’s earnings.

"In terms of their products, what they are really doing is gaining market share. It’s not so much the fact that the PC market is suddenly returning to some kind of growth."

Good deals have now become available on Apple desktops through Amazon, propelling the Mac Pro to become the third most popular computer sold through the US retailer in the category.

Amazon has slashed an impressive $200 off the price of the professional workhorse Mac, $2,299 will get you an Apple Mac Pro MB871LL/A Desktop. An additional $849 (itself a $50 discount on book price) will fetch an Apple LED Cinema Display 24-Inch (though this latter product’s not sold by Amazon, but a third-party vendor).

Industry speculation currently claims new iMac and Mac mini models are imminent for release at this time. However, Amazon disocunts on these models are slight in comparison to the Mac Pro blessing on offer today. This could give rise to speculation Apple may plan an upgrade to its top-tier Mac, which last saw a significant upgrade in March 2009.

A German Mac retailer is offering deals on its existing iMac stocks, suggesting an attempt to clear inventory as Apple’s supply chain sets the stage for new models, potentially this coming week.

As reported by German Mac news website, Mac Essentials, m-Store is offering deals on iMacs, including 0% finance and a free HP printer.

The German site is convinced these deals suggest new models are looming, saying (Google Translate): “At next week, stay tuned: On Monday, the quarterly results on Tuesday … an Apple Tuesday?”

Speculation also takes on an added dimension when we reflect on the 2-4-week shipping date currently promised on the (discounted) existing models of iMac through Amazon. Apple’s online shops now promise these items will ship within 24-hours.

Supplies of iMacs have been dwindling in recent weeks. Speculation had existed claiming Apple intended some kind of announcement on October 13, but with the company’s results due on October 19 the company usually keeps quiet in the preceding week or two.

A recent Wedge Partners report claimed a new iMac and redesigned MacBook coming in October.

“Wedge sees a redesigned iMac witjh a “thinner, organic design, likely with smoothed or rounded edges. The MacBook redesign “is likely to be limited,” Wedge asserts. Meanwhile, the firm also expects “new, lower price points to drive demand and create a meaningful competitive threat” to coming PCs based on Windows 7 as well as to the booming netbook segment. “We believe these new designs and price points will help Apple achieve a 3 million unit quarter for Macs in [calendar] Q4,” the report said.

French site MacForever says the new iMacs will have SD card slot(s) and Quad core processors. Other reports have speculated upon inclusion of Blu-ray drives in the latest models, only to repel such speculation later, saying Apple had changed its mind in an 11th hour shift. They are also saying that Tuesday is likely the day of release.  Translated:

But according to various sources, Apple Store would indeed close its doors next Tuesday. On the menu: MacBook, IMac and Mac mini. It is not impossible that Apple took the opportunity to review other models. It could also be a big surprise on the side of the iMac.

Stay tuned.

Well, we say surprise, but let’s face it, it’s not terribly exciting – seems Microsoft, sponsors of Family Guy, givers of Win Mob 6.5 and desperate to convince XP users to switch to its latest operating system plans to open its first retail locations on Windows 7 launch day, October 22.

We already know these locations emulate Apple’s cool shops in almost every way – video screens, layout, location, tech help bars, the lot. Engadget sources now claim Microsoft’s take on an Apple shop will begin opening up (to take business from nearby PC retailers) on that day.

“Specifically, the Scottsdale store will swing the doors wide on the 22nd, we’re not sure about the Mission Viejo location,” the report states.

In a separate report the Wall Street Journal notes the risks Microsoft runs, quite apart from the cost of its retail locations, “Microsoft depends on existing partners in the retail business that could be threatened by the company’s expansion into their turf," Wingfield reports. "Microsoft’s hardware partners could also be angered by its decisions about which devices to stock and which to exclude from its store shelves."

"The most eye-catching element of Microsoft’s store designs is likely to be the wall-sized high-definition screens, according to someone who has seen them. Laptops, mobile phones, Zunes and other devices will be arranged on spacious tables inside the stores."

Perhaps one of the more interesting things about the stores will be the chance they give to re-connect with those former Apple retail staff Microsoft has been recruiting to man its shops.

Investors may also be asking, with Apple scooping up the most profitable sales in computing with its machines, what exactly will be the viable margin for Microsoft’s shops? Presumably it won’t make a great deal from sales of hardware, other than its Xbox; though it may see some benefit from OS ad software sales. When the numbers for Microsoft’s retail segment begin to drop, we guarantee there’ll be some data-crunching as financial analysts and stockholders ask, “does this pay”?

Thanks to Engadget for the image, because we just lurve what they’ve done – we particularly like the small child to the mid-left of the picture, who is presumably desperate to be taken next door to that cool iPod shop. That’s what we call “pester power”. And the Windows user in the right of the pic seems, erm, somewhat “unusually” dressed….