Microsoft apparently plans to open two new retail stores, in Denver and San Diego, at some undetermined point in the (possibly near) future. That's the news drifting around sites like Business Insider, confirmed after a fashion by Microsoft's job postings for "retail product advisors" in both cities.

Microsoft's earlier stores opened in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Mission Viejo, Calif., in late 2009, after months of Microsoft executives trumpeting that they were prepared to challenge Apple's retail experience head-on. Microsoft even went so far as to hire George Blankenship, the former Gap executive who helped launch Apple's retail arm in 2001, to help guide the store rollout.

Microsoft's stores take a page from both Apple and big-box retailers like Best Buy, featuring wide tables loaded with devices, along with dedicated areas for particular types of product. Are they succeeding? Logic dictates that Microsoft would only roll out two new retail stores if the results from the original pair were encouraging enough to warrant further experimentation. At the same time, though, two new stores is still the retail equivalent of dipping a toe in the water; Microsoft seems reluctant, at least at this point, to ramp up enough stores to make this an all-out competition with Apple and its ilk.

That reluctance could be a result of the original stores' sales data being "good, but not quite good enough." Or it could be a reflection of the economy, and the generalized reluctance of consumers to open their wallets as they did before the late unpleasantness. It could be a statement on the overall budget being allocated for Microsoft's retail arm, or that Microsoft sees the stores as more of a branding opportunity than a source of revenue. Whatever the reason, though, Microsoft evidently sees reason to keep on going.