Microsoft's "Retail Experience Center"

Microsoft will open its own chain of stores, following Apple's lead by giving itself and its brands a bigger presence on the front lines of the retail industry.

The surprise announcement was included in a news release this afternoon in which the company named former DreamWorks Animation executive David Porter its new corporate vice president of retail stores. Details are scarce, with the company saying that Porter will be responsible for determining the time frame, locations and other specifics of the new Microsoft stores.

But there are surely some clues in the "Retail Experience Center" that Microsoft unveiled last month on its Redmond campus. The center includes a wide range of futuristic prototypes and improvements in retail display technologies. At the time, there was speculation that it could be the prelude to Microsoft stores, but the people in charge of the project denied it when I asked during a tour of the facility.

In an email, a Microsoft spokeswoman said the company is targeting "a small number of high profile experience stores in a few major cities around the world."

Mary Jo Foley notes that Microsoft at one point had a single store in the San Francisco's Metreon mall, so this isn't completely unprecedented. But that was short-lived, and a retail chain is a different matter entirely. It's also notable that Microsoft is making this announcement as the industry grapples with the economic recession.

As it moves into the retail business, the company will need walk a fine line with the rest of the industry -- trying to make its stores successful while not taking too much business away from the major consumer electronics retailers.

In recent years, Microsoft has been trying to work more closely with those big retailers, putting "Windows Gurus" into big stores and creating "store within a store" concepts to improve the experiences. That's one of the reasons today's announcement was a surprise.

"I think it’s pretty strange," said Van Baker, a Gartner analyst, via phone. "It's a real reversal."

Baker pointed out that there are many unanswered questions, such whether Microsoft will sell just software or full computer systems. One option would be to sell its products at list prices, which would make the stores more about building product buzz and brand recognition, without stepping on the toes of existing retailers.

Porter sought to allay the inevitable industry concerns in the news release announcing his appointment, saying that the company will "share learnings from our stores with our existing retail and OEM partners that are critical to our success.”

Joe Wilcox of Microsoft Watch, who has advocated Microsoft making this move for a while, characterizes the quote as Porter "trying to calm the channel from going into raving panic."  Wilcox concedes that there "will be fear of channel conflict."

"But c`mon," Wilcox adds. "CompUSA is gone. Circuit City is going. Who can guess which Microsoft retail partner is next. Microsoft is right to open stores."

Porter has lots of experience in the retail business, having spent 25 years at Wal-Mart before joining DreamWorks in 2007. At Microsoft, he'll report to Kevin Turner, the company's chief operating officer and himself a Wal-Mart veteran.

[Post updated at 5 p.m. with additional information.]