PICTURES: Look Inside The New Google Showrooms That Will Challenge Apple's Stores

A few hundred million people visit Apple stores around the world each year, and though the number of visitors seems to be plateauing, the stores' marketing appeal is undeniable. Now Google is seeking to steal some of that thunder by rolling out its own showrooms this holiday season with six "Winter Wonderlabs" spread throughout the country.

Each pop-up shop features an interactive snow globe and a few of Google's latest products to play with.

Users can mess around with the Nexus 7 tablet and Chromebook laptops, and watch the Chromecast and Google Play media services in action. Gadget fans may be disappointed, however, to hear they won't be able to try on the still-exclusive Google Glass.

Customers are not able to purchase the devices at the store, but can order them directly from Google reps.

The labs use an igloo-like snow globe to draw in potential shoppers. They can record slow-motion videos of themselves playing with props and CGI snow. Click here to see an actual customer-uploaded video.

The Wonderlabs opened this week in New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Paramus, and Sacramento. They will be around until Christmas Eve.

The Verge got a nice photo the facade of NYC's showroom, in Bryant Park. The others have less glamorous setups inside shopping malls.