Friday, November 12, 2010, 11:50 am

New Windows 7 ad criticizes Apple's lack of Blu-ray support on Mac

By Slash Lane

Microsoft has once again taken on Apple and the Mac platform in a new advertisement which touts the ability of a Windows 7 laptop to play Blu-ray discs, while a MacBook cannot.

The advertisement released this week, made with stop-motion animation, shows a Windows 7 laptop on a flight with a Mac. The anthropomorphic laptops are shown to be friendly, though the PC plans to spend time on their "long flight" by watching the film "Avatar" on Blu-ray.

"What is that?" the Mac asks as the movie starts. "Oh, it's Blu-ray," the Windows 7 machine responds. "It's built in."

The advertisement is a direct attack on the Mac, which does not have the ability to read high-definition Blu-ray discs. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs once publicly called the licensing issues regarding Blu-ray a "bag of hurt."

At the end of the commercial, Microsoft takes another shot at Apple with a mock rating of "PC," stating that "no Macs were used in the making of this video." Its inclusion is noteworthy, because the 2008 "I'm a PC" campaign from Microsoft that criticized Macs was actually created with Apple hardware.


Rather than place Blu-ray drives in its line of Mac hardware, Apple has instead focused on streaming and selling HD content through its iTunes store, where movies and TV shows are available for purchase or rent. In September, the company further pushed that commitment with the launch of the new, streaming-centric $99 Apple TV.

Apple and Microsoft have exchanged jabs through advertising on numerous occasions. In particular, Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign proved very successful, and was named the advertising campaign of the decade by Adweek.

But in 2010 Apple discontinued the "Get a Mac" campaign. Since then, its advertisements have not made mention of Microsoft or Windows, but have instead focused on the products and their features.