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Microsoft takes its first hit at iPad mini with new ad showcasing 8-inch Acer tablet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J09HaPkExA&feature=youtu.be

Following its string of ads pinning up Windows 8 tablets against the full-sized iPad, Microsoft has just posted a new ad that pits the 8.1-inch Acer Iconia W3 against Apple’s 7.9-inch iPad mini. The point of this ad is to demonstrate that Windows 8 can even handle Microsoft Word documents and powerful gaming even at the small screen…

For comparison, Microsoft portrays the iPad mini as suitable solely for less-power-intensive tasks like reading in iBooks. Microsoft also compares the pricing and capacities of these tablets. Previous Microsoft ads demonstrated Windows 8 multitasking capabilities and mocked Siri, but don’t forget that Microsoft also uses “optical illusions” to make its points.

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Comments

  1. Funny how Microsoft calls “it” a PC.

  2. Andy Brooks - 11 years ago

    This jist of the ad: Apple users are people who would rather read books and stay intelligent than waste time playing video games

  3. Drew (@gettysburg11s) - 11 years ago

    Yes, that’s interesting commercial, but my iPad mini can handle most powerful games, and, somewhat ironically, it can also do Microsoft Word docs with Microsoft’s own Office for iPad app.

    • rogifan - 11 years ago

      What Office for iPad app? Didn’t think one existed.

      • Yes. You can use Microsoft Office apps on iPad or iPhone using CloudOn.

        If you have Office installed on your home PC or Mac, you can also use it remotely using any of the great VPN apps.

        But there are many better Office-compatible apps. My favorites are the iWork apps.

      • A couple more ways to use Microsoft Office on your iPad:

        – The iPhone version of Microsoft’s Mobile App can be installed and run on the iPad with 2x video scaling.

        – Microsoft’s free Office Web Apps work just fine within Safari on the iPad.

    • saldin2011 - 11 years ago

      This fools no one. People who know better don’t buy Surface tablets, instead they play The Drowning on an iPad mini, or use several of the Office alternatives like QuickOffice HD or iWork (because Microsoft doesn’t allow the Office 365 app to run on iPad).

  4. Darren Weavers - 11 years ago

    Wow! Makes me wanna run out and buy a Surface….er…..not! They are a fail….play with one and you’ll get an idea for why iPads are iPads and Surfaces are errr, crap!

    • Ezhik - 11 years ago

      All that smugness is making me cry :(

      • hodar0 - 11 years ago

        Smugness? C’mon.

        MSFT took a $900 Million write-off. They essentially killed the WinRT project. If you bought a SurfaceRT, you now own an orphan – still happy with that purchase?

        A tablet is a leisure device, it was never intended to be a productivity device. MSFT is trying to force Windows onto every single device they can, and they are failing miserably. Win8 is a train-wreck, forcing the user to adopt to an OS that interacts the same as a Windows Phone or the failing Surface products; has done huge damage to MSFT and to the PC industry as a whole.

        Meanwhile, Apple is doing pretty darn well. Play with a current Surface, then play with a current iPad – look at what you will actually USE the tablet for (reading in bed, movies on the plane, email, surfing, FaceBook, tweaking photos) and what you use a laptop for (reports, presentations, lab work, sales), and it will take very little time to realize that these are two distinctly different markets.

      • Ezhik - 11 years ago

        @hodar0 Why do you think that tablets can’t be used for both leisure and productivity? It’s rather nice being able to just browse the internet, read Twitter, and listen to music, then flip back that keyboard thing, remotely connect to my computer, and do some actual work.

        And that is something I could still do on an iPad, too (even if it wouldn’t be quite as smooth) – just replace the keyboard cover with a Bluetooth tablet.

  5. Jesus, these just keep getting worse.

  6. Gee, I didn’t know that you can ONLY read books on an iPad. ;-)

    Microsoft must REALLY be getting desperate to sell those unsellable Zunes… I mean Surfaces… if they have to stoop that low!

    • Ezhik - 11 years ago

      Just like Apple was with its Mac vs PC ads? They are basically the same, both happen to not talk about the weak sides, both happen to make fans of the bashed company angry…

  7. I have a feeling that this ad is going to piss-off iPad users rather than get them to buy Microsoft’s dog. If they are trying to chase away prospective customers, this ad should do it.

    • Ezhik - 11 years ago

      I think it’s trying to get attention, to tell people that Windows tablets exist. And making a lot of people angry would give them just that.
      While all the fanboys are arguing, and sites like 9to5mac just keep repeatedly falling for the same trick over and over and over and over again, somebody who just happened to stumble into this site will think “hmm, this actually looks like something I’d use”, and get a Windows tablet.

      • hodar0 - 11 years ago

        People know that the Windows tablet exists. People came, people saw; they were NOT impressed.

        Tablets are NOT productivity devices; they are leisure devices. MSFT may insist you NEED Win8 on them, and then again MSFT took a 900M write-off and has had their butts handed to them. MSFT cannot give their tablets away at cost, the Android folks are basically selling their tablets at or near cost; and Apple is making huge margins.

        The ONLY people on the planet who announce tablet sales, is Apple. Everyone else is just guess and conjecture. Why do you suppose that is?

      • Ezhik - 11 years ago

        @hodar0 Things take time. I don’t understand how everyone expects MS to have a massive app store, or a trillion sales, when they launched their tablet just a year ago or so.

  8. Ezhik - 11 years ago

    ITT: People don’t know what advertising is.

  9. Erik (@Elokens_) - 11 years ago

    They forgot to mention that it weighs 1.1lbs compared to .68lbs of the iPad Mini. This difference is huge in a small tablet.

    • Ezhik - 11 years ago

      Just like Apple forgot to mention in its Mac vs PC ads that Windows absolutely kills Mac OS when it comes to gaming.

      Advertising is supposed to show the advantages of the product.

      • incredibilistic - 11 years ago

        Apple never claimed or even mentioned gaming superiority. It was usually about everyday tasks, a more secure and stable OS and generally being more fun to use based on the default apps like iPhoto, iMovie and (then) iWeb.

      • Ezhik - 11 years ago

        @incredibilistic See, they advertise the good sides of the product. The first video that I went to when I googled “Mac vs PC” had a coment about gaming.

  10. Dieter Krieftewirth - 11 years ago

    Reading on Amazon that the Acer tablet uses a bad quality PN panel instead of IPS. The viewing angle is ok when in portrait mode put in landscape its supposed to be horrible.. so Microsoft used an optical illusion again…

  11. Microsoft please spend your time not towards Apple, how about Google. You are a 3rd world joke.

  12. Wow, you have more games in App Store than I have in my shitty store. Wow, that is iWork and a normal Mail…. ehm ;)

  13. Wow halo, to bad,you missing over 100,000 games that iOS has lol liars scumbags

  14. I wonder why Microsoft are only attacking Apple, Google is still a strong player in the tablet market with Android!