Here are the three new Apple commercials trying to take a smack at the launch of Windows 7, the new operating system from Microsoft.
The “Get a Mac” advertising features the PC and Mac guys, as usual, but are quite a bit meaner than usual.
OK, the Lauren ad was a little too cute for its own good, and BoomTown has no interest in Giampaulo’s “really big hands.”
But the latest installment of Microsoft’s real-people advertising campaign, called “Laptop Hunters”–this time a mother and son named Lisa and Jackson looking to score a computer–is pretty funny and sweet, and the main theme of hefty value over too-thin hipness is really starting to kick in.
And while I cannot blame Microsoft for sticking to the Apple-Is-for-Value-Ignorant-Elites meme, I still wish that the messaging would move on from price to more important things such as how the software and hardware perform together.
Even without Apple CEO Steve Jobs, there will be copious amounts of live coverage of Macworld’s keynote by Apple SVP Phil “No-Black-Turtleneck” Schiller all over the tech sites online in T-minus nine hours and counting.
And, guess what? All Things Digital will be there too, with the intrepid reporting duo of Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski on text and our Webmaster (and not-so-secret Mac fanboy) Adam Tow on photos.
The $23.45 question: Will the not-prone-yet Jobs make a surprise cameo appearance?
Boomtown extends apologies to the late Francis P. Church, who penned the original “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” editorial in the New York Sun in 1897. But with a little rejiggering, his eloquent words work perfectly as a translation for Apple’s press release about its withdrawal from Macworld yesterday, which doubtlessly shook the Apple faithful to the core. Oddly enough, it matches up surprisingly–and a little disturbingly–well. Thus, here’s a little holiday inspiration to help those poor souls make it through these darkest of days.
While the very quirky ads rolled out by Microsoft to tout itself, starring Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, got a ton of hype, it turns out there will be no more than than three already released.
It seems the churros have gone cold.
According to a Microsoft spokesman, the ads were apparently just a warmup for more to come, as early as tomorrow, and though the new ones will not use Seinfeld in any significant way, they might still feature Gates.
First off, as Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski pointed out to me today, you have to give Yahoo props for using Gogol Bordello as the soundtrack and–more to the point–actually knowing about Gogol Bordello in the first place.
“Since when does [Yahoo CEO Jerry] Yang listen to gypsy punk?” asked Paczkowski in an email to me today.
Since Bill Gates started eating churros with Jerry Seinfeld and adjusting his skivvies hands-free, that’s when!
Oh dear, Yahoo has succumbed to the hipster, ironic thing–an unfortunate marketing virus that has hit Microsoft of late, too–in an under-the-covers “Start Wearing Purple” online marketing campaign.
We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.
Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the D6 interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).
But–as many readers have requested–they will all be available in their entirety in this column.
In the less contentious spirit of DEMOfall and TechCrunch50, two demo conferences taking place simultaneously this week, we’re happy to bring you all the demos we had onstage at the D6 conference.
First up is TransMedia’s Glide, an operating system that cuts across all operating systems.
As usual before yet another big Apple event, the psychic friends network is in overdrive in anticipation of the iconic computer company’s “Let’s Rock” media gathering in San Francisco tomorrow.
At this point, I think Apple could announce a change in the color of its bathrooms at its Cupertino HQ and it would be mayhem among the Mac faithful.
But some of the focus is likely to be on its leader, Steve Jobs, whose gaunt appearance was the talk of Apple’s last event.
As was reported earlier today by BoomTown, Google confirmed on its blog that it will launch its new Chrome browser tomorrow.
Google said it would be launching Chrome in 100 countries, but but will only be available in beta in Windows (Google said Mac and Linux versions were coming soon).
The move by the search giant, although the blog does not say so, is clearly a direct shot over the bow of Microsoft, which dominates the browser market with 74 percent share.
Here is the full blog post by Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management at Google, and Linus Upson, Engineering Director.
What will be the news of how many Macs were sold in the recent quarter (2 million? More?!?), which will be revealed when Apple (AAPL) announces its earnings this afternoon?
And, even if sales are soaring, iPod sales don’t slow as much as expected and the 3G iPhone looks tasty, the stock still might not get [...]
Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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