Microsoft says Apple tried to get its latest ad spots pulled as inaccurate. The ads depict PC hunters who find Mac computers too expensive and instead select a PC with Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
The ads portray Macs as priced well above $1,000. The hunters invariably select a less-expensive PC and say they’re not cool enough to be a Mac person.
At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner told the audience, “You know why I know (the ads are) working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department.”
He quoted Apple’s attorneys as saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.”
“They took like $100 off or something,” Turner said. “It was the single greatest phone call in history that I’ve ever taken in business.”
“I did cartwheels down the hallway,” Turner added. “At first I said, ‘Is this a joke? Who are you?’ Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.”
He also told the conference that Microsoft will open some retail stores this fall “right next door to Apple stores.”