In a move that could be a harbinger of big changes in the software marketplace, Microsoft has opened its first online Unites States store. The Redmond software giant has led the way for many years in the sale of packaged software for personal computers and for many years other sellers followed their lead. Although many other companies sell software on line, Microsoft had held out until now in major markets. Will other major packaged software vendors once again follow the Microsoft lead?

The new Microsoft store, which can be found here, will sell a variety of Microsoft products, from Windows and Office software to hardware such as Microsoft mice , keyboards, and Web camera. As launched, the site has sections for Windows, Office, Entertainment, Hardware, Home and Reference, Design and Developer, and Business. You can buy everything from Windows Vista to a Zune.

The new United States site was introduced in a low key manner via the Blog of Trevin Chow, a Microsoft senior program manager. Although Microsoft already operates stores in Europe and Asia, this is the first in a really major market. The blog site stresses the usage of the software download functionality of the site, saying “In addition to shipping fully packaged products to your doorstep, we offer the additional advantage by making available many Microsoft products to buy and download. … The big difference is that after your payment is confirmed, you can immediately download the product to your computer and install it right away.”

Most software packages can also be purchased for conventional home or office delivery. Xbox games are among the few titles that cannot be downloaded. Conventional hardware products, of course, must be shipped to the customer as well. As a side note, the site does not support tax-exempt sales at this time.

It has always made sense to pay for and then download software, but Microsoft has until now resisted selling via this avenue in major markets, although download sales have been available in Germany, Great Britain, and South Korea. With the introduction of software download sales in The United States, the Redmond software giant lines up squarely in favor of this delivery methodology. It is now easy to see a clear path to the end of the software disk.

Related:

Entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 3:33 pm under Ecommerce, Microsoft, Retail, Software.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
Stumble It!