Microsoft Hits Apple Where it Hurts
I’m not entirely sure I believe this story, but apparently at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference this year COO Kevin Turner told a story of someone from Apple asking Microsoft to stop running their laptop hunter ads:
And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)
While I do generally really like Apple products, I take some joy in watching them wriggle a bit (especially because they’re the darling of the marketing industry). Those laptop hunter ads hit Apple where it hurts, which is a whole lot better than the “I’m a PC” ones, which I’m guessing just helped raise awareness on Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads.
Hi, I'm 
When are companies going to learn – spend money on creativity, not lawyers.
Imagine if the RIAA spent just a third of the money they did on those pointless John Doe cases on R&D instead, who knows where music would be today?!
mp/m
I’m not sure that I do believe the story, but let’s say it’s true. So what? Some people NEED PCs, some want to save money. Others are willing to pay more for ease of use, design elegance, or whatever. Macs have always cost more than PCs, and have always had a limited appeal.
The real threat to Apple and Microsoft is the web book and elegant open source or nearly free apps.