Microsoft advertisements could help Apple sell computers
By Mike Ferro
The ad wars have begun between Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft has retaliated against Apple for the series of “I’m a Mac and you’re a PC” advertisements. Microsoft’s new advertisement campaign aims to hit Apple where it hurts the most, the cost factor. However, according to some, these advertisements could be helping Apple more than Microsoft.
Apple has been successful in slowly chipping away at Microsoft’s image, portraying Windows as an uncool and inefficient platform. For the most part the ads were fairly effective in bringing to light the drawbacks of the PC. Apple’s mantra has always been that Macs offer more value than PCs. Microsoft’s mantra has always been that PCs are cheaper.
In an effort to undo the damage caused by Apple, Microsoft launched a $300 million advertisement campaign. One of the latest advertisements from Microsoft portrays a woman trying to find a laptop for under a $1,000. She goes first to an Apple store but comes out complaining that there are no options for her price range. She states, “I guess I’m not cool enough to be a Mac person.”
According to ChannelWeb, Michael Oh, founder and president of Tech Superpowers, an Apple partner, indicated recently that talking about cost as the main reason for buying a PC is like telling a BMW shopper to buy a cheap car. He states, “Microsoft is drawing out this comparison, but what ends up happening is the ads highlight the value that Macs bring to the table even more.”
I don’t believe Apple has ever targeted the same audience Microsoft has been gunning for. It also doesn’t seem like Microsoft understands why people buy Macs rather than PCs either.
Consumers who are worried about their wallets have already purchased a PC, so who is Microsoft actually targeting? If the company wants to take some market shares from Apple, Microsoft needs to portray the PC as a cool and efficient platform.
At the end of the day, those who perceive Macs to be superior will continue to buy them, and and ad that portrays PCs as cheaper will do very little to change this perception.
Related:
Entry was posted
on Sunday, March 29th, 2009 at 2:40 am
under
Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
Stumble It!
March 29th, 2009
Again, the $300 million ad campaign backfires. First the ones with Seinfeld left many people scratching their heads saying “what???”. And now this “classic”.
MSFT should just continue to make commercials showing people having fun like the “I’m a PC” campaign.
Personally I believe that the Mac’s image is cool, hip and upbeat. Whereas the MSFT image is staid, stale, corporate and seems to comes off as “your father’s OS”.
Mac has non of the virus and malware concerns that Windows has, thus no need to spend $80 a year for anti virus programs for the Mac. With Mac seemingly more secure than Windows…that extra couple of hundred dollars may not seem too much in the long run.
If I want a secure and safe computer and don’t want to spend thousand for a Mac. I use Linux as a dual boot with Windows for the best of both worlds.
I own three G3 Macs running Tiger and Panther. Both are good OS. I also own a couple of XP machines too and use AVG and Firefox and XP remains a outstanding OS for its age.
Want to save money have some of that “cool factor” with security? Go dual boot Ubuntu (or some other Linux flavor) along with a Windows OS.
And the comment
“In an effort to undo the damage done by Apple, Microsoft launched a $300 million advertisement campaign.”
It wasn’t all Apple’s “fault” that Apple had significantly increased market share just from the commercials.
That OS that started with “V” had a little to do with it. MSFT’s original intention was to bury XP and replace it with “V”…well that didn’t go so well…(to put it mildly) and XP continues to pull its weight for MSFT .
And the ad campaign talks about a “laptop under $1000″…well netbooks with Windows XP can be had often for as low as $259.
However full fledged laptops with DVD drives can be found almost weekly at Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot as well as Micro Center for as little as $399.
The biggest mistake Apple made (in my opinion) is that it didn’t release a OS that will run on Windows Machines. Instead of Apple having a near 10% share now, it could have been as high as 20 to 25%.
March 29th, 2009
If Apple did release a Windows compatible OS, their claim of simplicity goes straight out of the window with drivers, compatibility, etc. All the same problems that Windows face.
The best thing about re-installing OS X is that all the drivers are there on first boot up, unlike Windows where you have re-install most, if not all, manually.
Apple and Steve Jobs say differenly, but Apple is a hardware company. That’s what makes the bulk of their bottom line. I’d be surprised if they could ever make a substantial amount of money solely from their software. But it’s the combination of software and hardware that make the complete package.
It’s what Microsoft doesn’t seem to understand; they push the software side, but the software experience varies wildly from PC to PC. Apple are pushing both the software and hardware working together, because they are engineered for each other.
It’s like Xbox 360; that has the software side completely locked down, but the hardware lets it down.
Apple products have both the software and hardware both locked down and they work together brilliantly. That’s why Apple products are virtually the only CE products I can use.
March 29th, 2009
All completely true. Imagine Kia running around saying “we know you all would prefer a BMW, but while you can’t, heres our crap car instead.” What it says is, “the moment you can buy a BMW, you will”.
M$oft is totally shooting itself in the foot here. Massive backfire, makes Macs look better than them.
March 29th, 2009
All around me, people are switching to Mac. In the last year alone, three longtime PC using friends have simply thrown their hands up in frustration at all the crap they have to deal with on their PC’s, and bought a Mac laptop. Each of them has been just blown away by the switching experience.
While helping them copy their files over, I’ve been blown away by the mindless stupidity of Windows again and again. Example – the ‘Select All’ command seems to be a different key combo in almost every app, instead of which on a Mac, it’s ALWAYS Command-A.
March 29th, 2009
The Microsoft ads do have one good point about Apple laptops. In 15″ and 17″, only “professional” models are available.
When Apple left the previous 13″ Macbook in the mix and then updated it, I thought they might take the opportunity to extend into two laptop lines. A professional high end line (13, 15, 17) and a lower end consumer line (13, 15, 17). The Nvidia graphics processors not only make this possible but logical. Many people and older eyes prefer a larger screen. It’s consumer preference and shouldn’t be ignored.
That being said, the Microsoft campaign is SO full of holes that it’s embarrassing. Notice that the commercial ends with the actress making the purchase. It doesn’t follow her home to determine whether she is pleased with her purchase or if the computer actually met her needs and not just her budget.
Apple need only employ an actress that looks like the actress on the Microsoft commercial and show her trying to get set up or attempting to get on the Internet or setting up a printer. They could use the campaign to give Microsoft 100 black eyes.
Also, picking a PC laptop is maddening. HP alone has what seems like hundreds of models. Why? It’s basically a: processor b: screen size and c: pro-video card or integrated chip. Most PC makers supply a wall of details designed to confuse clients. Job well done.
March 29th, 2009
Let me tell you a story first to show my point.
Abercrombie & Fitch, the clothing company, decreased their prices in the last recession, but when the recession ended they went back to their regular prices but sales went down! in fact lower than before the recession!
This is because people now perceived A&F products as less valuable! So management advice number one during A recession is to not lower the prices, or associate your self with low prices, during this time companies should invest in R&D and pray that the recession goes away.
Now back to Microsoft, what they will gain when the recession ends? they want people to associate their products as cheap and nothing else!
they even did not bring the ‘value’ factor in the ad? all what they are saying is we are cheap!
While Apple during the recession are heavily advertising the right way, that is “we manufacture a reliable, cool product”. Apple marketing team are the best in the world, way to go Apple.
March 29th, 2009
———-
Yeah, right Microsoft. Your message is clear.
PC Users are:
1. Un-cool
2. Cheap
———–
Apple does NOT need a large marketshare.
Apple only needs to be profitable.
Therefore, Apple does not need to compete directly against Microsoft by releasing Mac OS X for generic PC hardware.
Apple has done enormously well with its 10% marketshare in PCs. It has nearly $30 Billion in CASH saved up as a result. Apple has a higher profit margin than its competitors. Apple is a money-making machine. Just ask Dell about it (heh heh).
————-
Apple Users:
1. Those who want only the best.
2. Are cool.
3. Are affluent – or if poor, will save up until they can afford an Apple product – or are willing to get a second job.
March 29th, 2009
Picking a PC laptop *is* maddening: there are far too many options within a brand/model, never mind across brands/models. Buying my last PC laptop took hours and hours of study/planning (and I still wasn’t very happy with the result). Configuring my last Mac laptop purchase took minutes.
In the 1960s, American car manufacturers offered hundreds of options, many of them tiny details. Sure, you could order a highly customized car, but a) you had to wait for it, b) the chances of it arriving correctly configured were slim and none, and c) it probably cost more than it would’ve without so many choices available.
Nowadays most car models come with many features as standard equipment, and there are few choices: engine, transmission, trim/feature level and some option packages. After that, most options are dealer-installable.
This was in part the result of the “Japanese invasion” in the late 1960s/1970s: it was simpler and cheaper to ship cars across the Pacific with lots of features as standard equipment than to incur delays and higher costs for cars to be built with options.
This approach is a big part of the Apple “value equation”. It’s one thing to compare prices between Macs and PCs, it’s another to compare comparably-equipped computers since Apple offers more features as standard. People are also very good at confusing price and cost, esp. when they ignore ease of use, longevity, maintainability, etc.
I wish someone would publish an “installed base” survey: I suspect Apple’s share would be a lot higher than 10% — my experience is that Macs are viable computers for far longer than Windows PCs. I typically get about 3 years out of a Windows PC, while I get 4.5-5 years out of a Mac (although I can lengthen the life of PC hardware by installing Linux).
March 29th, 2009
Dhari,
From your insight, it looks as if Microsoft is promoting low end, hence low profit PCs, exactly at a time when Dell is putting a lot of effort in promoting the high end. I doubt that Dell likes it because, as you say, Dell may become frozen in the low end after recession.
March 29th, 2009
It used to be that Mac hardware was as different from PC hardware as Mac OS was different from Windows, but things have changed.
Today, everything except the motherboard and the computer case is the same in Macs as it is other PCs. All of the CPUs, GPUs, hard drives, RAM, optical drives, etc. come form the same suppliers, and can be bought “off-the-shelf” by anyone.
The only thing that really differs anymore is the OS. And for us Mac users, that makes all the difference in the world. But Mac OS X can run on almost any PC made by other manufacturers.
Once users had access to software or hardware (EFI-X) boot loaders, they were able to install and run Mac OS X on computers made by other manufacturers, or even their own custom built PCs.
So yes, the Microsoft ad misses the point. The ad doesn’t even advertise Microsoft’s operating system (almost as if they know that they can’t compete in this arena), oddly the ad promotes other PC hardware over Apple’s computers by talking about the price advantage.
The big problem being missed by both Apple and Microsoft is that many people would like to run Mac OS X, but either find Apple’s computers over-priced (which is undeniable considering everyone is using the same hardware components) or the large hole in Apple’s product line (there is only one expandable computer and it starts off at $3,000 and goes up from there.
Apple computers are better designed and built than the average PC, but the price premium you must pay to get that better design and build, and the lack of a reasonably priced expandable Mac, makes it a no-brainer for many people.
Personally, I was ready to buy a Mac Pro and was holding out for the new ones that were recently introduced. I had been using an iMac, and was hoping the new Mac Pros would be more affordable, since computers and component prices in general have dropped greatly in the past year (compare RAM or hard drive prices to a year ago), but the price of the Mac Pro is still stratospheric.
Like many other people I need an expandable computer, but the Mac Pro is just too expensive to consider.
After pricing out a Mac OS X compatible computer that has an Intel 3.0GHz Quad-core CPU, nVidia GeForce 9800 GT, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 1TB hard drive, 5 optical drive bays, 5 hard drive bays, 7 PCI-X slots, DVD burner, Gigabit Ethernet, etc., it was less than half the price of the low-end 4-core Mac Pro. The case isn’t as “pretty” as the aluminum Mac Pro case, but considering that they would both be hidden under my desk it really doesn’t make any difference.
Given the choice of buying this expandable “Mac” for less than $1,500 or paying an additional $2,000 to get a similarly configured low-end 4-core Mac Pro (almost $3,500)… there is no problem choosing.
Honestly, I’d rather have the Mac Pro but it’s not worth an additional $2,000 for the privilege of having it. In the end, it’s really about getting an expandable computer that runs Mac OS X, at an affordable price.
March 29th, 2009
What did Microsoft’s buyer get for her money? An incredibly heavy and outdated POS, designed for retail bait ‘n switch upsell rather than actual sales.
From http://www.roughlydrafted.com:
“The new ads don’t go into details on hardware purchases; they simply make the case that PC laptops can be found for cheaper, playing up tight funds in the tough economy. Best Buy actually does sell the DV7-1245DX, an HP notebook with 17” screen, but it lacks fast wireless 802.11n, fast Gigabit Ethernet, digital audio inputs and outputs, weighs 7.75 pounds, and only features the screen resolution of Apple’s 15“ notebooks: 1440 by 900. Technically, it is a 17” notebook in terms of size, but it doesn’t have the 17“ resolution of Apple’s MacBook Pro, which is 1920 by 1200.
One HP buyer pointed out that this model series ”has the worst screen I have ever seen in my life. It’s the 1440×900 screen and the viewing angles are so poor that even when sitting directly eye level with the screen it is totally washed out. If I go a little bit off-axis the screen results in a negative image. I was using the default settings. Unfortunately I didn’t read reviews before i purchased.“
It would be interesting to follow up in a year and see how happy she is with her 7.75 lb. laptop.
March 29th, 2009
I also wonder if inadvertent damage was done to many of the PC makers as the commercial shows her finally walking off with an HP laptop. I wonder how Dell, Sony, Lenovo, etc. feel about that!?
March 29th, 2009
About a year ago, a friend got a top of the line desktop for work. I think the brand was Dell, but it may have been HP. The first time she tried to burn a DVD, she found out she didn’t have DVD software. It wasn’t included in the purchase. Unbelievable! Can you imaging buying a car with a radio and then finding out that you had to buy some software to make it work?
March 29th, 2009
As for folks who say you can build a computer for less, that’s true. But to say the components are exactly the same is false.
Unless you buy the exact part number power supply, you’re not getting the same power supply. Unless you buy the exact part number hard drive, you’re not getting the same hard drive. Unless you buy the exact part number screen, you’re not getting the same screen….
March 30th, 2009
I’ve been buying Apple computers since the IIe I used in 1984. I’ve bought, used, or specified over 50 of them since.
It isn’t about hardware, although Apple IS a hardware company. It’s about the whole freaking experience! The integration of everything is what I look forward to when I hit that power switch. Everything just works together, as expected.
Even Parallels, the virtualization people, get this. They’ve built an environment for Windows to run on the Mac that is better than Windows running on a garden variety POS PC. I cloned my Dell laptop and sucked it into my Mac, and the result is an order of magnitude better to use than the original Dell hardware!
Apple is all about the entire computing experience. From the incredibly great service in the Apple Store (at least in Charlotte), to the startup routine you follow to migrate to your new machine from your old one, to the way they design the software so your ten-year-old kids can learn it without manuals, EVERYTHING just works great. Oh, there are some annoying little anomalies every now and then, but they are nothing like what I’ve endured on Windoze machines over the years.
Apple understands what it is selling, and how it relates to what people really want. Once you have truly experienced what they offer, it’s hard to look at a PC as anything other than a second-best commodity.
March 30th, 2009
I think the ad will be well-received among people who already buy Windows PCs for that amount of money (about $700). It would be difficult for them to justify a Mac anyway. They are willing to compromise features and quality for price, the woman shopping for a laptop will get a Turion processor instead of a Core 2 Duo, integrated video and not even close to the decent 9400M, etc. These people aren’t the target customers Apple is after. As a Mac customer I know that I could get a PC for less, but the manufacturer would have to cut too many corners. Besides, Microsoft failed to explain what was so great and unique about their OS. Of course they better not talk about Vista. In all, I’m afraid I’m not interested.
Here is the $699 HP Pavilion laptop at bestbuy.com
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9166635&st=hp+dv7&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218041148373
March 30th, 2009
lol, not working eh? Check out the latest reports and Apple has lost some market share…get the facts straight..