Apple sees motivation behind pranksters posting Windows logo on Apple's upcoming store

A group of pranksters posted a Windows logo onto the facade of a future Apple Store in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday, after the U.S stock market resulted in Apple’s market value exceeded the combined value of Microsoft and Intel.

Apple’s Mac computers are a competition to Wintel monopoly a collaboration of Microsoft's Windows operating system and Intel's x86 processors.

Though reports say that the pranksters did not have any ideological motivations and they ‘took care to make it easily removable’, appleinsider.com reported,‘Microsoft, has not enjoyed the measure of success that Apple has with its stores’.

Apple recently hosted the 1 billionth retail visitor to its stores. Last quarter, revenue from retail stores reached $3.19 billion. As of the end of the March quarter, Apple operated 323 stores, with plans to open 40 additional locations in fiscal year 2011.

Apple has already started hiring for the second store in Hamburg, which will open by September end.

Microsoft had taken retail initiative to challenge Apple’s move into retail in 2009, by opening one of its first stores in direct competition against an already-established Apple store in Mission Viejo, Calif, reported appleinsider.com.

A video posted by the WAV Collective, of the prank taking place, as noted by MacNN shows a fake construction crew member scaling a ladder in broad daylight to screw in a mismatched Windows logo to the black facade used to hide the store.