TV War, Apple vs Microsoft, Mac vs PC, Jobs vs Gate

source: news.alibaba.com
How unfortunate. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs seems to have been trying to pick an ugly, public marketing war with the PC world for nearly three decades. And now that Microsoft has finally found the stones to give him the fight he wanted, Jobs is out on medical leave. That's right. Microsoft's latest ads--featuring a Volkswagen driving, red-haired actress named Lauren and a hipster with a cool Italian name who thinks he gets technology--have at last stooped to Apple's Apple level. The problem: The approach looks real stupid when you're not the underdog.

Wherever Jobs is right now, he's got to be smiling. Ever since ChiatDay unleashed the "1984" ad introducing the first Macintosh by throwing a hammer, literally, at the PC's image, Jobs has framed a heroic narrative for himself at the expense of his rivals.


In the 1980s, Apple's commercials portrayed the company as David to IBM's goliath. A decade later, Apple's commercial positioned its processors as the Road Runner to Intel's Wile E. Coyote. Now, finally, it is presenting itself as the Homer Simpson, a natural able to effortlessly rise above a sweaty, straining foe, to Window's hapless Frank Grimes.

It worked. Over the past five years, Apple shares have risen more than 700%, thanks to surging sales of iPods, iPhones and notebook computers. Meanwhile, Microsoft's stock has lost more than a quarter of its value.

Better yet, it looks like Jobs has sized up his opponent well: In Microsoft Chief Steve Ballmer, Jobs has found a target who can't resist hitting back. So Microsoft grabbed a big bag of money and hired Crispin Porter Bogusky, the advertising company behind Burger King's "Subservient Chicken" stunt.

In Microsoft's latest ad that launched Saturday, the software giant gives a dude named Giampaolo $1,500 and tells him to buy himself a new computer. Giampaolo, who describes himself as "technically savvy," says he's looking for portability, battery life and power. "I like a computer that allows me to customize," he adds.

What he doesn't like: Macs. "This is so sexy, but Macs to me are about aesthetics more than they are about the computing power," he says. "I don't want to pay for the brand, I want to pay for the computer." Ouch.

You can bet that little dig will have people in Redmond high-fiving one another, as did the one delivered in Microsoft's last commercial by Lauren, a red-haired actress. "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person," Lauren said.

Gotcha. That's because the more Microsoft hits out at Apple, the better honed its attacks, the better it reinforces the narrative Jobs has sketched out. When Jobs returned to a shattered Apple in 1997, his first move was to launch a marketing campaign to hammer home one simple message: think different. Different than what? It doesn't matter.

Jobs just loves to fight. He screams at, and then makes up with, employees. He publicly critiqued the Treo, the BlackBerry and other smart phones even as he introduced Apple's first smart phone. He quipped that cranking out software, such as iTunes, for Windows users was akin to "offering a glass of ice water to a person in hell," at a conference in 2007 the day before he was expected to make nice with Mr. Windows himself, Bill Gates, during a joint appearance.



Lucky for Microsoft, Jobs is out on medical leave through the end of June (barring a surprise, and with Jobs, you never know). And Apple, in his absence, may not have a taste for this fight. Apple's latest ads tout their laptops as the "greenest." A pity, really, because with Jobs whereabouts unknown, Apple may no longer be what it once was: the meanest.
If you wanna see the Microsoft ads here:
Part I:


Part II:


Part III:


Apple Get Mac ads:
Part I: