A few hours ago Gizmodo received an entire PowerPoint presentation revealing the possible layout and concepts of Microsoft's upcoming retail stores. While the documents are fairly old, according to our own sources, the final design for the stores has not yet been finalized.
After taking a look at the document, it appears that Microsoft is going to be focusing on Windows 7, Xbox, Windows Media Center (Including Surface) and Windows Mobile. It can be assumed that looking through the slides that there is going to be a massive digital media wall that wraps around the entire store. There will also be an answer bar, a fancier word for a information kiosk, in which you can ask the experts anything you need to know.
(Click to enlarge)
Stages will also be set up for demoing products; obviously the focus will be on Windows 7, Windows Mobile, and Windows Media Center. Another focus of the staged area will be training sessions. According to the document, customers can expect free training sessions and paid group sessions.
At this point we don't know for sure if these plans will change, but as we move closer to this Fall one can assume that the plans will not change drastically. Frank Shaw, a member of Microsoft's press relations team, said that "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".
The PowerPoint presentation is massive, 54 slides total, so check out the gallery here.
(Images courtesy of Gizmodo)
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