Hello, I'm a MAC... and I'm a PC

Apple's got a funny new video ad campaign on their site ~

http://www.apple.com
for the main video

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
for all of the ads

I liked the iLife and Network videos the best.

[Andrew Khalil]

I've seen those and think they're pretty funny. Personally, I like the virus one.

[Charles Papert]

I vote for Virus and Network myself. It slays me when PC gets jealous over Mac being able to talk in Japanese to the "digital camera" girl..."Bonjourno...hello...?"

But then I watched the iLife one again, and that's killer too. Great campaign. So simple and so well done.

[John C. Chu]

I'm a big Apple fan, but to me, most Macintosh commercials, while funny, elegant and sophisticated--only preaches to the choir and doesn't really speak to PC users that do not realize that there are alternatives to Windows.

Apple seems to do this a lot with their Macintosh commercials.

I loved the "Think Different" commercials--but did anyone not already a Mac user buy a Mac because of it?

I would love to see in a commercial a real demonstration of the elegance of the OS itself--that itself would sell the Mac.

And with "Boot Camp" now available...they should show a Mac doing Windows too.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Well John, I'm gonna have to side with you on this one. You won't find a bigger Mac fan than me, and I am also a shareholder. But this latest batch of commercials seem too cutesy and, like you say, just seem to preach to the choir. I don't think the image of that "Mac guy" will sell any computers to businesses, but I guess that's not who they're targeting.

Now here's an Apple commercial....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...743260&q=apple

[Charles Papert]

Hey, what happened to her iPod? Boy, they did a great job of digitally removing it!

(insert ironic smiley emoticon here, please)

[Greg Boston]

I don't care for these type of ads. I think that Apple should promote their own systems and capabilities without the 'pc' guy. Why not just show and tell folks about all the nice, robust, usable applications that are included. Why not explain tht OSX is a graphical interface lying on top of a very lean and stable OS known as Unix. Those are the type of things that current PC owners might be drawn to. That's what it took to get me to buy a Mac. But as I have said before, I have and use both platforms in my household. I am not a fanatic about anything (with the possible exception of DV-INFO).

Probably the one single application that drew me more than any other was Livetype. I couldn't find any application for Windows that even came close to what this software does.

-gb-

[Marvin Emms]

When I load the ad page Quicktime opens up and then informs me componants are needed that aren't on the quicktime server.

This may be because my PC and its operating system are a few years old now, but if users with PCs old enough to be thinking about upgrading can't see the advert how are they supposed to want to buy a Mac?

From the discussion it sounds like they are try to seperate PCs and Macs rather than simply telling us how great Macs are and I can see a reason for this. Intel has recently been boasting that is now makes the chips for both PCs and Macs and Apple may have a small crisis on their hands, in that what seperates a PC and a Mac is becoming blurred.

Acorn computers in the UK made a similar mistake, after carving themselves out a niche for very reliable and completely PC incompatable computers, they started releasing machines that would run windows and had intel compatable CPUs inside. For me that completly killed any identity the company had as a rival to Intel and Microsoft. They split the buisness a few years later and stopped selling home computers.

My thoughts are that if the line between a Mac and a PC becomes any more blurry Apple can only lose.

[Greg Boston]

Although reference is being made to online ads, they are also being played on broadcast television. That's where I have seen the ads, not online.

-gb-

[Marvin Emms]

Fair enough but I think my point still stands. They should be playable on machines old enough to need upgrading.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Well, companies are not going to always choose the lowest common denominator for a format to stream video over the internet unfortunately. You probably need to upgrade to the latest Quicktime - I've seen that error before when running a version older than QT 7. See if you can upgrade here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mac.html

"Intel has recently been boasting that is now makes the chips for both PCs and Macs and Apple may have a small crisis on their hands, in that what seperates a PC and a Mac is becoming blurred." I really don't agree with you there. I think this move was long overdue since the PowerPC architecture was holding the Mac back. Now the playing field is truly level, so Mac and PC benchmarks are directly comparable. And you also have the option of running MacOS and Windows at full speed on a single machine.

Do you follow the industry? Take a look at this chart and tell me whether Apple is having a "crisis" or if instead it might be Intel, Microsoft or Dell ;-)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL...intc,dell,msft

[Marvin Emms]

Ive allready tried to upgrade to QT7, and there is no version that supports my OS. I'm unlikley to be swayed by any adverts though, Ive always found Macs difficult to use unless you think along Apples tramlines. I'm sure its not a problem now but its exemplified by the old inability to reformat an allready formatted floppy that resulted in many Mac users I knew keeping a strong magnet to hand.

Apple are doing very well currently, but its largely off the strength of multimedia products, not innovation in computer design. Even the higher than expected sales of the Intel Mac are being put down to iWeb software. It does raise the question, will they still be making computers in 10 years time?

[Dylan Couper]

I don't get it.




What's a Mac?
Like that song Return Of The Mac?
Or that hamburger from MacDonalds?
Conner MacCloud of the clan MacCloud?

Sorry, none of this makes sense.

[Meryem Ersoz]

Originally Posted by Marvin Emms

It does raise the question, will they still be making computers in 10 years time?

will *anyone* be making computers, as we know them, in ten years time? whatever happened to IBM's hands-free wireless headset with the voice-activated virtual screen? and, to quote, calvin and hobbes, what's with this whole weather thing?? where's my jetpack?? where's my hovercraft??

the only thing about these ads that i don't like is the "re-starting" portion....as if macs don't crash or require re-starts? mine sure does! otherwise, i think these are brilliant, hip, cool, minimalist, appealing. i mean, compare these offerings to the competition. (what competition?) name another computer manufacturer that is actually capable of employing humor successfully in an ad campaign.

i like the Networking ad, where the scene opens, and they're holding hands...so funny. two grown adult males holding hands... what other computer company is going to get away with broadcasting images like that to sell its products?

[Joe Carney]

If Apple wants to get more people to convert from Windows, create ads that show people how to make money with it, not just make home movies which can be done for free on windows anyway. The whole ilife and garageband stuff is cute, but there is lots of free software out there for windows to do similar if not the same thing.

Widows guy...I make a succesful living with Windows PCs.
Mac Guy...Look at my cute home videos....and gnarly music mix...and...and..

And I don't mean FCP either.