Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Kevin Turner

Microsoft Planning To Open 75 More Stores

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:50:56 +0000

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) COO Kevin Turner announced earlier this week at the Worldwide Partner Conference that they will be opening 75 more retail stores over the next 2-3 years.

This may possibly help the company push the sales of more Xboxes, Windows Phone smartphones, software, and Windows-based tablets. Microsoft currently has only 11 stores and five of them are based in Southern California.

Microsoft Executive Compares iPhone 4 To Vista

Akshay Jetli — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:53:50 +0000

The Apple iPhone 4 has just been compared to Microsoft’s Vista, considered by many as one of their worst operating systems. Microsoft’s chief operating officer, Kevin Turner, announced in a keynote speech at Microsoft’s Worldside Partner Conference (WPC), “It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that.”

Vista, the successor to Windows XP, was launched in 2007 and quickly became critized by users. Similarly, the iPhone 4 has already been heavily criticized for its widely known call reception problems after its recent June 24th release. Buyers have complained that touching the external antenna on the phone often results in dropped calls or plummeting signal strength.

Late Tuesday, Consumer Reports Magazine told buyers it would not recommend the iPhone 4, which was the first time it had given the iPhone the label of “Not Recommended.”

Growing sentiments following the disappointing release of the iPhone 4 has energized Microsoft for its Windows Phone 7. The Windows phones are expected to be released in November, and are being highly anticipated by Microsoft executives. “We’re back in the game,” says Turner. “And this game is not over.”

[ComputerWorld]

Microsoft Changes Lauren Laptop Hunter Ad After Apple Complains

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:39:21 +0000

Earlier this week Shan wrote a blog post about how Microsoft COO Kevin Turner received one of the best phone calls in his life.

An Apple rep called Microsoft to complain about how they recently dropped the prices of their laptops. Lauren, a character in a Microsoft commercial mentions that the Apple MacBook Pro laptop is “over $2,000″ in a Laptop Hunters commercial. The price of that laptop is now $1,700.

Microsoft complied with Apple’s complaint by altering the commercial so that Lauren no longer mentions the price. This just proves that Microsoft’s commercial actually is irritating Apple’s marketing team. Turner mentioned that Microsoft will keep pumping out Laptop Hunter ads.

[via AppleInsider/Engadget]

Apple Complains About MS Laptop Hunter Ads

Shan Sadiq — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:00:33 +0000

The hostility between Microsoft and Apple continues to grow. At Microsoft’s 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference, company COO Kevin Turner mentioned that Apple called MS to complain about their Laptop Hunter ads.

“And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business.

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.”

Microsoft has been running Laptop Hunter ads to attack Apple’s PC VS Mac ads. The point of the ads is to show that a PC laptop is faster and cheaper than its Macbook counterpart.

Microsoft Hires David Porter, Plans On Opening Stores To Promote Windows

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:45:27 +0000

Microsoft Corporation plans to opening several retail stores shortly after hiring David Porter as the company’s corporate VP of retail stores. Porter has worked at Wal-Mart for 27 years. Porter was also the head of worldwide product distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG since around 2007.

Porter will be starting work this Tuesday and his responsibility will be to improve the PC buying experience for consumers. His first task is to plan the timing, locations, and design of Microsoft stores, a strength that Apple already has.

The Microsoft stores are a way of improving the software company’s brand since Vista was criticized for being slow, too secure, and requiring much larger hardware specifications. Apple capitalized on these weaknesses by releasing several PC vs. Mac ads. Apple has also admitted that their stores helped raise their own brand awareness. Microsoft hopes to achieve the same thing.

“I am delighted to welcome David to Microsoft,” stated Microsoft COO Kevin Turner. “This is an exciting time with our strong lineup of upcoming product releases including Windows 7 and new releases of Windows Live and Windows Mobile. We’re also working hard to transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience at retail by improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition so that it’s clear, simple and straightforward for consumers everywhere. David’s unique and diverse background, coupled with his deep retail roots and distribution understanding, will be an invaluable asset in this long-term effort.”

Porter will be working with Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, a unit within Microsoft that already has retail experience. Porter will be reporting directly to Kevin Turner.