Last month Microsoft took aim at the vast majority of smartphone owners with a Windows Phone ad that laid into Android and iPhone users. This month, the computer giant has pushed Windows 8 into the ring to square up against the iPad.
The result is an entertaining 30-second ad that happens to feature a narrator whose voice will be familiar to millions – Siri. That’s right, Siri narrating an ad for Windows.
The ad, titled Less talking, more doing, has, quite deliberately, a look and feel reminiscent of many of Apple’s own ads – you know, minimalist style, plenty of white space, feel-good music….Siri. And look, there’s an iPad. But hang on a minute, there’s also a Windows 8 tablet alongside it.
We’re then shown a number of ways in which Windows 8 apparently trumps the iPad, with Siri helpfully explaining each point as we go. So we see, for example, updates taking place on the so-called ‘live tiles’ of the Windows 8 device, while Siri, speaking on behalf of Apple’s tablet, blurts out, “Sorry, I don’t update like that.”
As for multitasking with two apps working on the screen at once, Siri offers up another apology, saying, “I’m sorry, I can only do one thing at a time.” PowerPoint shows up too, which Siri confirms the iPad also isn’t much good at (Keynote, anyone?).
Not wanting to suffer further humiliation, Siri decides to change the subject, suggesting, “Shall we just play Chopsticks?”. With that, a piano keyboard shows up on the iPad’s screen, a reference to Apple’s iPad Mini ad from last year.
The ditty carries the ad to the end, whereupon we learn about the pricing of each device: $699 for the 64GB iPad and $449 for the 64GB Asus VivoTab Smart.
Check it out below and let us know – funny or flop?