Best Buy getting ready for Windows 8

So this is where it becomes fun.

I get to go out and see how the rest of the world sees Windows 8. Well this is very interesting.

I visited 4 different Best Buy stores in the Los Angeles area and surprisingly, very few seem like they are ready for Windows 8.

Out of all the stores I visited, only one had a Windows 8 display up and the staff were still getting ready and struggling with the installs.

I was told that they weren’t allowed to have Windows 8 installed on the display devices but a mock-up preview version of the Operating System until the 26th of October.

When I did see a display, it only was partially stocked with a couple of HP devices that actually had Windows 8 running.

Interestingly, most of the staff I spoke to were unable to didn’t seem to know anything about the Operating System at all. They all kept talking about the 26th of October.

I felt like shaking them and screaming “That’s in 2 weeks!!”.   It seems like the Windows 8 sales training videos haven’t made it to these parts yet.  :-)

The other thing to be concerned about in these stores is the wi-fi connections that are shared across the store.

I played around with the HP all In One on the the right in the picture above and when I went to the Windows Store, it took FOREVER to come up. Now of course I know that’s because of the weak wi-fi but I can tell you that I saw a couple of brand new consumers wondering “why it’s so slow”.

That’s something that needs to be fixed by Microsoft/Best Buy otherwise consumers will get the wrong impression while checking the devices out for the first time.

The 26th is coming soon and from what I saw, there’s a WHOLE LOT OF WORK left for retailers to do.

I’ll keep you updated…

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