Microsoft will keep running ads that claim Windows PCs provide better value than Macs, especially now that Apple has reportedly asked the company to stop.
Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, said at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference that the ad campaign drew the ire of Apple's legal team, PC Magazine reports. Turner said he got a phone call from Apple two weeks ago, "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."
The ad campaign, which began with a commercial titled "Lauren," challenges computer buyers to find a PC for less than $1,000. If they can do this, Microsoft foots the bill. Of course, all the ads include a brief look at expensive Apple computers, followed by amazement at how many cheap Windows PCs are available. In the first ad, Lauren concludes her Apple search by saying "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person." Microsoft says the ads are unscripted.
Turner said he did "cartwheels down the hallway" after Apple called. "At first I said, 'Is this a joke? Who are you?' ... And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them."
To be fair, Apple did chop computer prices after its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Notably, the 13-inch MacBook Pro became $100 cheaper, now starting a $1200, and the MacBook Air's price dropped $300 to $1,500. Those are still pretty expensive compared to what you can get in a PC, but -- well, comparisons between Macs and PCs wouldn't be so hotly debated if they could be summed up in a sentence or two.
In any case, it seems the ads are working, however canned they may seem, so get ready for more. They're better, at least, than seeing someone get vomited on.
