Taking a bite out of Apple: Microsoft’s Comeback

Apple is undoublty one of the fastest growing and most succesful companies in the world today.  As students and young-adults with disposable income, we are Apple’s prime target for their Mac products.  As Breighton Ma mentioned in his blog post “Branding, Why?”,  Apple has done an incredible job of positioning itself in our evoked set and associating its brand with the cool factor.

However, their “Hi, I’m a Mac” commercials and narrowing in on how a Mac user looks and behaves, Apple may have defined it’s target market too narrowly (that’s definitely nothing to laugh about).  Microsoft recognized this mistake by Apple and immediately capitalized on the opportunity to capture the segment of consumers who Apple missed in its commercials.  Check out Microsoft’s attempt to break the stereotype that Apple has portrayed as a PC user:

This campaign certainly goes beyond the 2 stereotypical characters in Mac commercials and connects with the audience on a more personal level. Using real, everyday people from around the world to vouch for the PC was definitely a smart move to demonstrate the versatility, ease of use and the incredible size of the PC community. From six-year-olds to engineers, virtually anyone can be a PC user.

Although it may appear that Apple has the competitive edge over Microsoft with its Mac products, this is not the case if you consider the many different suppliers of PCs that consumers have to choose from. The sleekness of the Macbooks and performance of its operating system may be popular among students, but in reality, more students own a PC and than a Mac. Microsoft has been able to capture and retain a large consumer base because it is the most widely used operating system, priced competitively, and packaged in various options. PCs continue to fly off the shelves, keeping up with its competition.