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‘I’m a PC’ Booth Outside of an Apple Store

Posted by JOE WINDISH, Technology Editor in At TMV.
Nov 1st, 2008 | Comments

Appleinsider:

AppleInsider reader Tom submits the following photo [above], which shows a large Microsoft-branded kiosk parked outside a shopping center-based Apple retail store.

“It’s a friggin booth where you can record your own I’m a PC video,” he said. “This is outside the Apple Store, Bullring, Birmingham, England.” He added that a trio of Microsoft staffers will be on hand to turn patrons off from the Mac for the next three days.

The move is an extension of the Redmond-based software giant’s $300 million advertising campaign aimed at cleaning up the image of its Windows Vista operating system, which has been tarnished at the hands of Apple’s long-running “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads.

AppleInsider also cites data suggesting the eccentric Gates and Seinfeld ads dwarfed both Apple’s and the new “I’m a PC” ads in viral views.

TechCrunch has more on the Apple/Microsoft ad wars in Apple Goes McCain On Microsoft With Mocking Attack Ads. And Technologizer wonders whether the Apple ads venture too far into the realm of insider baseball.

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justinslot

Does anyone think those Apple ads are successful? The PC guy is likable and sympathetic and endearingly funny, the Mac guy is a hipster doofus. Maybe they're working but they always look like preaching to the choir to me.

PattonGuy

The actual point of them is that supposedly Macs are more cool than stodgy PCs. I really have to hand it to Mac, they have good graphic designers and ad staff. But they didn't persuade me to get a Mac when I got a graduation present earlier this year. The fact is that Vista, despite all the whinging about it, does work. I have also used Macs lately, and they are annoyingly slow, even in Windows mode. Windows has worked fine for me for years and years.

Rambie

Apple's share of the market has grown over the last years, so the ads are working for some. I say this as a IT guy who's exclusively Windows so there is no bias here.

I haven't used a Mac in years, pre OS X in fact, so I'd like to try a Mac but don't want to spend the money. The new 13" Mac Books look nice and seem price competitive maybe I'll pick one up next year on clearance. :)

NordicAngst

OSX is fantastic, reliable, and has a nice easy to use terminal. Other stuff about macs I don't really care about.

How exactly did MS get the booths outside the Apple store anyway? Sounds like a hole in their real estate strategy.

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