Microsoft Says It's Starting To Get Under Apple's Skin

Microsoft last year told Worldwide Partner Conference attendees it was tired of Apple making fun of Windows Vista and planned to fight back. A year later, Vista is firmly situated on the scrap heap of history, but Microsoft nonetheless feels it has regained control over how it's perceived in the marketplace.

Earlier this week at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner proudly recounted a phone call he received recently from Apple's legal department. Apple asked Microsoft to stop running its "Laptop Hunters" ads, which highlight the cost advantages of PCs over Macs, on the grounds that Apple recently lowered its prices. Unsurprisingly, this brought Turner no small measure of satisfaction.

"I did cartwheels down the hallway," Turner told chuckling WPC attendees.

Microsoft is now laughing at Apple's Vista-bashing in the "Get A Mac" advertising campaign, and "Laptop Hunters" sends a message that Microsoft channel partners agree with. However, some partners feel that Microsoft should have responded to Apple much earlier than it did.

"There isn't a Microsoft partner in the country who didn't feel discomfort while watching Apple's television ads," said Marc Harrison, president of Silicon East, a Microsoft solution provider in Manalapan, N.J. "Everyone wanted a strong response, and Microsoft gave them one. That doesn't directly affect the channel, but it does have a psychological impact on clients."

Microsoft's $300 million brand resuscitation campaign got off to a shaky start last year with the infamous spots featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, but "Laptop Hunters" appears to be having a much more positive impact.

BrandIndex, a U.K.-based market-research firm, conducted daily interviews with 5,000 people earlier this year and found that throughout the first quarter, most had a higher opinion of Apple's brand than they did of Microsoft's. But starting in early April when Microsoft launched its "Laptop Hunters" advertising campaign, the pendulum started swinging Microsoft's way.

The ball is now in Apple's court, and it'll have to come up with an innovative response to Microsoft to regain its position as the chief aggressor in this battle. One Apple solution provider is confident that Apple will take aim at Microsoft's claims that PCs are cheaper and offer better value.

"I think Apple is upset because Microsoft is saying that all Macs are more expensive than all Windows laptops, and that's simply not true," said Nick Gold, senior account executive at Chesapeake Systems, a Baltimore, Md.-based Apple specialist.

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