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Microsoft Corp's (MSFT) decision to launch a retail push for the first time suggests the company is hoping the success of smaller rival, Apple Inc. (APPL), in reaching consumers, may rub off on the larger company.

An announcement from Microsoft Thursday confirming long-rumored plans to launch retail stores comes as the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant faces multiple challenges in the way it reaches consumers.

While Microsoft owns the world's largest and most profitable software franchises in Windows and Office and has a successful consumer electronics product in the Xbox console, it has stumbled in recent years with consumer-facing products like the Zune music player, which have failed to make traction against Apple's iPod.

Meanwhile Apple's operating system has recently made gains in the core desktop computer market, which Microsoft dominates. In 2008, Apple's share of the U.S. personal computer market rose to 7.7%, according to IDC, from 6.4% in 2007.

Microsoft is also increasingly seeking to persuade customers of the interconnectedness of its products spanning home PCs, the Internet and mobile phones, as well as the core desktop Windows and Office tools.

"They are taking a leaf out of the Apple playbook," said Katherine Egbert, a software analyst with Jefferies & Co.

Egbert noted that Apple's very successful turnaround of its own business, spearheaded when Chief Executive Steve Jobs returned for a second tenure at the helm of the company, had roughly coincided with its decision to open its own chain of retail stores, in the late 1990s.

On Thursday Microsoft said it had hired David Porter, most recently head of worldwide product distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA), and a veteran of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world's largest retailer.

"We're working hard to transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience at retail by improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition so that it's clear, simple and straightforward for consumers everywhere," Microsoft's Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner, said in a press statement.

Microsoft didn't immediately disclose the value of the investment it was making in the stores, the number of stores it would open or the store rollout.

"Retail will help Microsoft in telling a broader story it wants to get across about products from Windows Live to Windows Mobile," Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, said.

Microsoft said in 2008 it planned to launch a retail push involving chains, including Best Buy Co. (BBY) and Circuit City Stores. Circuit City in January said it would go into liquidation after failing to reach an agreement with creditors or find a buyer.

Rosoff said the beleaguered current state of the electronics retailing industry likely prompted Microsoft into the decision to launch its own chain.

Microsoft shares closed Thursday up 0.26% at $19.26.

-By Jessica Hodgson, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6455; jessica.hodgson@dowjones.com