It should come as no surprise that Apple isn’t a big fan of Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunters” ads, but some may be surprised to learn the Mac maker’s lawyers reportedly called a senior Microsoft executive and demanded the ads be removed. The topic of the TV ads, which feature prospective buyers comparing the prices and features of Apple laptops and Windows-based laptops, came up at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday. Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, was at the conference to announce that Microsoft was planning to open its first stores this fall, with at least some of the locations likely to be right near an Apple store.
But the most intriguing part of Turner’s speech was when he recounted a telephone call he says he got from Apple’s legal department demanding that Microsoft remove the ads. Here’s Turner’s tale, according to Microsoft’s official transcript:
“And so we’ve been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? “Oh, I’m looking to spend less than $1,000.” Well we’ll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.
And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business.”
Since Microsoft launched the ads, which are a response to Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads, there is evidence that the campaign may be radically altering value perceptions of PCs. According to a report in AdAge, BrandIndex says Microsoft’s so-called value perception has risen steadily since the campaign began in March, while Apple’s has fallen.
Well it sounds more like a request, but still……Apple in fear of MS marketing….really?
Sounds like bullshit to me; desperate bullshit. Nearly as bad as churro commercials and parking Microsoft stores near Apple stores. Who the hell is running Microsoft these days? Sell that stock, fast!
@ #30 “add comparable software that duplicates the functionality of Garageband, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, etc. and I am quite sure that the sub-$1000 PC notebook would be on par in price with a Macbook”
Of course that’s if you’re planning on using that software. Besides there’s open source and freeware products out there for the PC that will do what 90% of what that software does even if you don’t include the omnipresent bloatware that you get on most PC laptops.
Regardless of whether this is real, some of the Apple “I’m a Mac/PC” ads over the last few years have been downright libelous.
In case you all weren’t aware, Peedrool is a MS Fan Boy.
Sure there are freeware alternatives to the iLife software i mentioned, but most of them suck and are difficult to use. None of them are integrated with the OS anywhere near as well as the apple software.
I agree that PCs are cheaper, but I still will not go back. I was a support tech for PCs for many years, and decided to pay the mac premium and give it a try a few years ago. It was nice to not have to continue my work at home in my off hours. I no longer deal with constant driver issues, slowdowns that seem to require a full OS reinstall every 6-9 months. I installed Leopard when it came out almost 2 years ago, and my system performs at the exact same level as it did when i first installed it.
Macs are not perfect, software still occasionally crashes, but it never takes my whole computer down with it any more. I am impressed with Windows 7 though, it looks pretty good so far. I just hope they do not bloat it up at release time as MS seems particularly prone to do.
MS has been throttled by Apple adverts for years, good to see them smarten up and hit back!
You have to ask yourself exactly what the commercial shows. A hand appears and gives money for the new laptop; buyer selects laptop and leaves store; buyer says “thanks a lot for that free laptop.”
Moral: people will be happy if you give them free stuff.
What they should do is give the person 3k and ask: would you rather buy a computer or buy a computer AND take a nice vacation week long vacation in Europe/beach/skiing?
I feel like being positive and optimistic today.
The really great thing about this neverending MS vs. Apple spat is that we have choice. And there should be choice, because there are people who absolutely prefer either option. Others even prefer other options and there are such options, like Linux, Unix, BeOS, Amiga etc. The one and only thing I really want from the computer industry is diversity. So long as we have diversity and choice, everything is fine. All I want from Apple and MSFT is that they keep hating each other’s guts and tripping each other up for as long as possible.
Can we stop calling it the difference between macs and PCs not that a Mac IS a PC? Intel chip, nvidia video card… yeah, its the same bloody thing. They are fighting over Windows vs OSX now, and to claim otherwise is deceptive.
I think PC’s are great, I have one made by apple, one made by HP, and one I built myself.
Really? Ive been reading this all over the internet and…REALLY? This just sounds like Microsoft FUD to me.
When you think about it, Apple is in the right with its adverts. And MS is in the wrong. Let me explain. The Mac ads always refer to just “PCs”, but not to the operating software or hardware, by brand name. For all we know, “PC” could be running Windows, Linux, BeOS, whatever. Of course, by the description of the OS’s short comings, it’s most likely Windows. That’s not Apple’s fault.
Now along comes Micrsoft with its Tv ads. And the first think we hear is, customer doesn’t like the Mac for some reason, so on they go to pick out the very first brand of a PC they see. Well Apple’s brand of computer and its OS are clearly mentioned. And what short coming is pointed out, vs a PC, is usually the price. Which isn’t anything Microsoft has any control over, since it’s not in the PC making business. Nor do they control how large the laptop screen is, or look of the keyboard. So the so-called PC customer, in the ad, isn’t even choosing the OS, Microsoft’s baby, based on it’s features. Just on what the OEM has come up with. So it a very deceptive ad strategy, at best. And out-right false advertising, at its worse.
Whereas the Mac ads are having some fun over the assertion that Apple turns out a better product, both in hardware and OS software, than most brand name PC makers.
Basically, Microsoft has screwed itself, and is using its ads as damage control. If it wanted to do better, it should have enforced some quality standards for its OEMs to follow, in order to qualify for Windows use. But if they had done that. Then there’d be no way the argument between Apple and PC would be about price, most of the time. Because cheap, crappy brands of PCs (like e-Machine), wouldn’t have existed. But as usual, Microsoft has dazzled the customer with bells and whistles features, rather than real tangible quality design.
So what it comes down to is this. If you only care about the price, and are willing to take your chances with the PC’s long term reliability and quality. Or these factors are just over your head, and you only want a PC to look your MySpace page and twitter account. Well then forget that Apple even exists, and go buy a PC, any damn PC! And stop bitching about Mac’s prices. But if you are a serious users of technology. And don’t believe in wasting your valuable time and money with anything but the best available personal computer and OS. Then get whatever high end PC or OS you believe is the best. And if it’s Apple’s brand. Than that’s just peachy too. And don’t believe the lies that Microsoft are floating about your choice.
#44,
The laptop hunter adds dont make any assertions. They just offer people a $1000 to go in and get any laptop they want. So far no one has purchased a Mac.
It doesn’t matter that the setup is entirely fictional, it does not change the fact that you could stand outside Best buy and and offer people a $1000 to go in and buy any laptop they wanted and no one would come out with a Mac.
It’s a funny news item, but honestly I don’t need another reason to justify my not buying an Apple product. I will never buy Apple products, period.
Sounds like someone can dish it out…but they can’t take it…
Give that one to Microsoft. About time they make Apple take notice!
#47 – agreed.
#44 – You better look back at those Apple ads. They do mention Windows / Vista.
Then again, it’s just a computer. Move along people, move along.
pull the trigger,but please dont shot the mesgsenger!
Apple PC or Windows PC, they are just tools, any good computer user can sit down and use either. Apple hardware has issues, the same as another brand of computer.
I’m glad to see Microsoft giving back a little of what they have been taking for years from Apple. Simple truth, Apple’s are over-priced.
I would build a “Hack-n’-tosh” before buying a Apple desktop and I would run Windows on a Apple laptop (VM/Parallels).
If Apple really wanted to put the screws to Microsoft, they need to produce a version of OSX specificly for the PC market.
Apple Macs wouldn’t be half bad if they shipped them with Windows 7.
MS knows that Apple is getting nervous about Windows 7.
For the last few years, all Apple have had to say is ‘MS windows is shit, OSX is not’ to increase their market share.
Hell, I even installed OS X on my HP laptop and ran it for 6 months as I was so fed up with Vista. But I actually fly the flag for MS with 7 – so far everyone I’ve installed it for love it and will be buying a copy.
Oh, and Apple- ditch the grey please. It’s soooooo 20th century OS 🙂
PeeDrool, I guess MS doesn’t have a spel chekr?
#55, Ed,
They do but you need some intelligence to know how to use it.
I think it is time for MS to go the next step.
Make people understand that a PC stands for Personal Computer again. And then education them that all Apple sells are Personal Computers.
Then follow that with Apple users that load Windows on their Apple PCs to run the games and software Apple can’t.
If you really want to bloody their nose and black their eye, they should do so with gusto.
Cursor_
The thing I find most intriguing about the MS ads is that they are a software company advertising hardware that they don’t make and they don’t mention any of their software products in the ads.
Doe anyone else find this odd?
Cursor:
Problem with that is that it could encourage people to buy Macs… since they can run everything a non-Mac can now. 😛 That’s not exactly common knowledge among non-techies. All that they know is that someone tells them a Mac is better than a PC, and a Mac is shinier and more expensive. Consumer logic then takes over.
Though I agree, that would be a great ad.
Gear:
Absolutely not. Most consumers don’t buy machines and then reconfigure them to their liking. They buy a machine with its preloaded software/hardware and that’s it. Since Mac doesn’t sell Windows machines, increasing market share for Mac *hardware* means a *de*creasing market share for Windows *software*.
Admit it Apple fan-boys, Jobs is one hell of a salesman.. .. You were sold a line of crap because you are to stupid to know how to use a real computer for more than playing online.
#61 has hit the nail on the head.
Jobs brainwashed these clowns into buying his pretty crap at inflated prices.
Don Quixote:
“You were sold a line of crap because you are to stupid to know how to use a real computer for more than playing online.”
LOL, that’s “too stupid”. Seriously, some of you guys really need to lighten up. It’s just a computer. No one is threatening your sexuality or tossing puppies into wood chippers.
deowll, Well I’m hardly a fanboy. And my post was pretty clear that I was discussing OS vs OS, not hardware. And as far as Apple preventing other mp3 players from using the iTunes store as being ‘anti-competitive’, that’s not true. Besides, MS has the the Zune store. Too bad MS just missed the boat on the whole portable media player deal.
pedero, You can change the battery in Macs, iPods, iPhones, etc. It just doesn’t have a nice access panel. As far as getting your data back when when you get your device back from a repair…So you don’t believe in backing up your data? How is that Apple’s (or MS’s) fault?
Again, I’m not a fanboy of Apple or Microsoft. Both have shown a lot of innovation AND bonehead moves during their lifetimes. Apple is just doing a better job with software and hardware right now. MS continues to struggle. In 5-10 years we could be having the opposite discussion.
#65 Lowfreq
Stop making sense, will ya’?