Apple Targets PC Converts With Ad Blitz

Apple

The ad blitz--which Apple said is its biggest since 1998's "Think Different" campaign--focuses on people who have switched from the PC to the Mac, including a Windows network administrator, a writer, an illustrator, a small-business owner, a programmer, an interactive producer and a DJ.

"These are not actors--they're real people who have switched from PCs to Macs, telling their story in their own words," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "More people are interested in switching from PCs to Macs than ever before, and we hope that hearing these successful switchers tell their story will help others make the jump."

Dubbed "Real People," the campaign kicked off on Monday with eight different TV commercials on major cable networks, including ESPN, CNBC, Comedy Central and Fox News, Apple said. The TV spots also are slated to air this week on ABC's "Boston 24/7" and "The Drew Carey Show" programs plus NBC's "ER" and NBA Final broadcasts. In addition, print ads are slated to run in Time, Newsweek and other major magazines. Apple has also set up a Web site (apple.com/switch) for computer users interested in switching to the Mac.

Over the past 18 months, Jobs and other Apple executives have stepped up efforts to build Apple's computer market share, which various industry analysts estimate at 3 percent to 5 percent. In January 2001 at the Macworld San Francisco expo, Jobs unveiled Apple's "digital hub" strategy and said the company aims to attract the "other 95 percent"--that is, users of Windows-based PCs--to the Mac platform.

Since then, Apple has revamped its product lineup with a new operating system, Unix-based Mac OS X, plus a spate of new hardware, including the iBook G3 and Titanium PowerBook G4 notebooks, the flat-panel iMac G4, faster Power Mac G4 mini-towers, the Xserve rack-mount server and the Cinema Display family of flat-panel monitors.

The company also has opened 30 Apple retail stores nationwide and introduced Mac OS X Server software; the iTunes, iMovie, iDVD and iPhoto multimedia applications; the CD/DVD burning SuperDrive optical drive; the iPod MP3 player; QuickTime 6 MPEG-4 streaming media software; Apple Remote Desktop client management software; and upgrades of its DVD Studio Pro and Final Cut Pro professional video/film editing software.

Apple VARs say OS X will be the key driver of the Mac platform going forward, especially for business users. The number of OS X-native applications has more than doubled, topping 3,000, since Apple released the first major upgrade of OS X, version 10.1, last September, according to the company.

At its Worldwide Developer Conference in May, Apple said its development community has more than doubled since OS X's release in March 2001 and that more than 3 million OS X-laden Macs had shipped to date, making the company the world's No. 1 supplier of Unix-based systems.

Keith McDaniel, president and CEO of Atlanta-based consulting firm MacBasics, said although the Mac platform is rapidly gaining momentum because of attractive new products and rising software support, Apple won't have an easy time expanding its share in the Windows-dominated business market. "The problem with getting the Mac into the corporate market--especially the enterprise market--is that companies don't want the trouble of managing two different operating systems. A lot of IT departments don't know the traditional Mac OS but do know Windows and other platforms, including Unix," he said. "But now with Mac OS X, Apple has a Unix-based platform that is rock-solid and has a beautiful interface. And businesses can get a level of productivity that they've never seen before."

A start-up company, MacBasics focuses on evangelizing the Mac OS X platform and partnering with Apple VARs to build solutions for SMBs and enterprises. While the Mac's market share remains small, McDaniel said he'd rather hinge his business on an up-and-coming platform like OS X than the incumbent Wintel platform, where sales have swooned.

"One of the reasons I developed a business based on a new OS is that the news is kind of gloomy out there for PC shops," McDaniel said. "Today, you have two choices in the personal computer market. You can be the low-cost leader like Dell and Gateway, which have a pristine distribution model and can build and distribute PCs cheaper than anyone else. Or you can innovate and create your own demand, which has always been Apple's way of driving business and working out of difficult times. And over the last three years especially, Apple's innovation has been very good."