Are you as tired as we are of seeing Microsoft commercials that talk about how expensive Apple laptops are? Well, Apple is apparently just as annoyed, as their legal department recently called Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, who claimed that it was the "greatest single phone call" he's ever had.
The premise of the Microsoft ads is that a shopper must find the computer of their dreams for under a set limit. The ad in question, however, stated that a MacBook was $2,000 before taxes. The price of the MacBook dropped recently and Apple objected to the falsehood. In a new version of the the latest ad, law school student Lauren and her mom, Sue, shop for a deal but no longer expressly comment on the price of Apple products, although the student does say, alluding to Apple, "It seems like you're paying for the brand."
A Microsoft spokeswoman said, "We slightly adjusted the ads to reflect the updated pricing of the Mac laptop shown in the TV advertisement...this does not change the focus of the campaign, which is to showcase the value and choice of the PC," according to AdvertisingAge.
We'll just see who's complaining when they finally figure out they should've gotten a Mac.
SpaceTrucker
July 29, 2009 at 8:04am
As KevKevAllen pointed out, these commercials only show idiots purchasing laptops but, don't show the pitfalls of it. Such as all of them are laptops w/Vista on it, most of the people who are buying Microsoft laptops are still getting XP Pro installed on them, not Vista, secondly they aren't saying that in order to get everything that comes on the Apple laptops that you have to lay down much more money to get close to the full functionality of the Apples.
lopezzi
July 28, 2009 at 7:08am
What I don't understand about these commercials, this one especially, is that in the commercial, they say to find a laptop under $1,700 and they would reimburse you the money. At the end of this commercial, she picks a laptop worth just under 1k. If someone said I'll give you $1,700 would you really say, no thanks, i'll only take $1,000 of it? Why wouldn't she get a laptop more near the 1.7k price point if it's not costing her anything? This just further proves the point that PC users are not all that intelligent.
gshake
July 28, 2009 at 9:47am
The reason they don't spend the full amount is that they get to pocket the difference. It's supposed to show all the money they save by buying a PC.
lopezzi
July 29, 2009 at 7:43am
Is that implied somewhere? Maybe I missed it. Plus in the commercial it looks like he only gives them $1,300 which I guess is more then what they spent, but still. I still find it confusing.
kevkevallen
July 27, 2009 at 11:56pm
Hasn't anyone put together a commercial that shows a side by side comparison of two computers with the same features? Lets just say we had a 13 inch MacBook Pro, list it, and all its features, then find a laptop PC that had the same features and list them, and then show the final prices for both. Everyone would THEN understand that the Apple is actually alot cheaper, per feature, than the PC. To get a PC that equates to the QUALITY of the Apple brand computer products would cost you a small fortune!
Yes, you got your 17 inch laptop for under a thousand bucks, but guess what, it sucks. I bet its slow, and breaks down all the time, and gets viruses, and doesn't do anything all that great except sit there collecting dust. "You get what you pay for," comes to mind.
Just my two bits on the commercials: it doesn't do the Mac justice, and doesn't do justice for the PC industry either; the commercial shows off the price, not the quality. Make a commercial for quality, and the Mac would win out every time.
cdnair
July 27, 2009 at 11:12pm
Buying a Mac today is like buying a Honda. They just work; they give you very little grief and just do the damn job they're supposed to do, without adding or changing a whole lot. And like my Odyssey, they look absolutely smashing while doing so. Sure, my vehicle costs about $46,000 brand new.. And that Pontiac Montana over there costs a little over 20k... but in 10, 15, 20 years, my vehicle will still be on the road, whereas the GM won't be worth the parts it's made of in a little over 3.
In my industry, time is DEFINITELY money. Whatever you save in the store on a PC, will catch up with you in productivity, lost work, troubleshooting, angry clients, and the like... and then some.
...On watching people buy PCs:
"At first I was like- and then I lol'd"
mac_daddy
July 27, 2009 at 9:31pm
so that I can point out all of the cool features of the new Macs and then buy one. It would be a nice excuse... Do you think that they would still pay me in the end?
