Microsoft has announced that they will be opening brick and mortar retail stores around the United States and confirmed the appointment of David Porter as vice president of Retail Stores.
Porter, a former VP at Wal-Mart, will need to determine “the timing, locations and specific details of the stores.”
The new move will help the software giant to compete with Apple, which has 251 retail stores that brought in $1.74 billion USD revenue for 2008.
Porter added the stores would give consumers better direct access to products such as the upcoming Windows 7, as well as the Zune media players and the Xbox 360 gaming console.
“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,” Porter added.
Result for: direct access
Sony has confirmed that it will be giving Japanese PSP users direct access to the PlayStation Store via the handheld’s built-in Wi-Fi connection.
Beginning on October 15th, users will be able to use the store to purchase and download any game that would normally only be available on UMD from that point forward. The downloads will have faster loading times and get rid of the need to carry around the physical UMD.
There will also be add-ons and in-game items available from the store for current games as well as future games.
No word was given on whether users could download movies or music but the company did promise “more network services” for the handheld by the end of 2008.
There was no word on European or North American launches but it is safe to say we will see the update at some point.
