Microsoft!

Monday 16th February 2009 marks the first day at Microsoft for David Porter. It's also the first day in the office for Porter's title - Corporate VP of Retail Stores. The company's announcement says that Porter will: "Lead Microsoft's efforts to create a better PC and Microsoft retail purchase experience for consumers worldwide through the development of the company's own retail stores". It goes on to say that: "Defining the timeframe, locations and specifics for planned Microsoft-branded retail stores will be Porter's first order of business. The purpose of opening these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy".

Porter is currently Head of Worldwide Product Distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG, but his real value lies in a 25 year tenure at Wal-Mart. This all sounds uncannily like Apple's appointment of Retail SVP Ron Johnson from Target back in January 2000. But that's probably the only similarity between the way these two companies can approach running their own retail stores.