When Micorosft COO Kevin Turner revealed Microsoft Stores will open next to Apple Stores and rain falls upward, he also talked about the “greatest single phone call in the history” he’s ever received: Apple whining about the Laptop Hunters ads.
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 $US1,000.” Well we’ll give you $US1,000. 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 $US100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)
I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.
I actually do find that oddly satisfying, if Turner’s telling the straight story about how it went down, even if, yes, MacBook Pros are the best value they’ve ever been, since it shows Apple as a bunch of whiners.
What’s not so satisfying is that bit at the end essentially saying that they’re going to run the Laptop Hunter ads until the utter end of time. Take the Seinfeld approach guys—not that one—and go out on top. Well, as “on top” as those ads ever were, anyway. [Microsoft via Ars]
Regan
July 16, 2009 at 3:53 PM
I own 3 laptops, 2 Dells and a Mac so I’m not biased. I find these OS war things entertaining and silly. After some quick research I find it high amusing that the Ad company who did the ad use Mac’s. and that ‘Lauren’ is an ‘Actress’ in real life… unscripted, maybe, but then so are those Zoot review ads!
Report Permalinkglenn sweeney
July 16, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Has there ever been a time there isnt a disproportionality large section of posters claiming apples 1 step away from being the “next” microsoft.
The iphone is great… osx isnt. pretty simple really.. and anyone who thinks objective c is anything near as good as .net needs their head examined.
MS will win the pc market … Apple the phone market… and no they wont converge anytime soon. I use every bit of a dual core 2.6 with 4 gigs of ram and dual screens both over 19 inches each… sure one day ill have the cpu in my pocket but it sure wont have multiple screens that big.
Report PermalinkMissionMan
July 16, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Glenn, spoken like a true PC owner who has never owned a Mac. OSX is streets ahead of Vista. Vista is the main reason that so many people converted to OSX.
I was a PC user, I used to smirk at the Mac users and once in a while I’d play with a Mac so I could say I’d tried it and knew PC’s were better.
Eventually after dealing with the shambles they called Vista, I bought a Mac on the pretext that I could always install Windows if it didn’t work. I even resigned myself to using a Windows VM with products like MS Project because obviously Mac wouldn’t have anything decent that would do that. How I was mistaken and I kicked myself for waiting as long as I did. OSX is years ahead of Vista and XP. Even Windows 7 doesn’t match some of the basic functionality which has been in OSX for years.
Wake up, there is a world outside PC and it is better and if you try it, you may actually realise that. Ever wondered almost no one who tries a Mac goes back to PC?
Report PermalinkPsy
July 16, 2009 at 9:17 PM
MissionMan
We have Macs at University for our design work and i despise them. They make my workflow so slow, that it gives me a headache.
Multi Tasking might be present but it is such a handicapped feature in OSX that it makes the whole experience miserable.
So to respond to your theory, you are wrong. Once you go Mac, you will never go back… to the Mac.
Report PermalinkTiphereth
July 16, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Yeah right, Apple’s lawyers are going to ring up. Sounds like some prank calling teenagers
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