After months of speculation, images from Microsoft's Scottsdale, Ariz., store seem to bear out the "early concept" designs that leaked earlier this summer: In creating its retail experience, Redmond borrowed some ideas from the Apple Store. There's also a bit of Best Buy thrown into the mix, as well.

First, take a look at this Apple Store image from the blog 9to5Mac:

Now compare it to what you find with Microsoft's first retail store, courtesy of its official Posterous site:

You could make the argument, of course, that there are only so many ways to configure a retail layout--but Microsoft's offering really is reminiscent of Apple's in this instance: the employees in the color-coded shirts, the clean industrial design, the specially designed bags. It'd almost make you think that Microsoft hired the same people who handled the launch of Apple's retail arm in 2001. Oh, wait a second.

The images from the Scottsdale location also validate the 140-slide PowerPoint document that leaked to Gizmodo over the summer, the one assembled by consulting company Lippincott to demonstrate the possibilities for Microsoft's retail experience. Those slides included a wall-sized screen that wraps around the store, large open tables lined with laptops, and a presentation area for events.

When contacted by eWEEK at the time about the leak, a Microsoft spokesperson issued an e-mail statement that said, "As a part of our process in briefing creative agencies, we shared some early prototypes and concepts of our retail store plans. No final decisions have been made."

Well, between then and now, someone pulled the trigger. I suspect very heavily that Microsoft's design will be repeated at The Shops at Mission Viejo, in California, where another storefront is due to open in close proximity to an Apple Store. That will be an interesting match-up, one in which Microsoft has at least one small advantage: Apple Stores don't give you the chance to play Guitar Hero in-store.

Given the marketing dollars that Microsoft is pushing toward this endeavor, I can see the stores doing well at least in the short term--the bigger issue is how they'll compete against traditional big-box retailers such as Best Buy, not to mention the Apple Store, in the longer run.