When Microsoft COO Kevin Turner revealed Microsoft Stores will open next to Apple Stores and rain falls upward, he also talked about the "greatest single phone call in the history" he's ever received: Apple crying about the Laptop Hunters ads.
And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? "Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000." Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.
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.)
I did cartwheels down the hallway. 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.
I actually do find that oddly satisfying, if Turner's telling the straight story about how it went down, even if, yes, MacBook Pros are the best value they've ever been, since it shows Apple as a bunch of whiners.
What's not so satisfying is that bit at the end essentially saying that they're going to run the Laptop Hunter ads until the utter end of time. Take the Seinfeld approach guys—not that one—and go out on top. Well, as "on top" as those ads ever were, anyway. [Microsoft via Ars]