Microsoft has been releasing ads that promote its Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Phone operating systems in a bid to educate consumers. Unfortunately for Microsoft, some of the ads are very misleading and others are very confusing. For instance, take the latest ad - it focuses on comparing the entry-level Nokia Lumia 521 off-contract smartphone with the flagship Samsung Galaxy S4. Since it's a Microsoft ad, no points for guessing which smartphone wins.
Microsoft has taken a new approach in winning the mobile wars - by releasing attack ads to try to educate consumers on why they should choose a Windows device over the established market forerunners - Samsung or Apple. The ads are completely misleading and this new plan might end up hurting Microsoft instead of helping it. We recently covered two new attack ads Microsoft had released targeting the iPad and pointed out how consumers are misled and confused. Its latest ad trumps those by putting the Nokia Lumia 521 up against the Samsung Galaxy S4 and naturally the Lumia 521 is the clear winner, at least according to Microsoft.
Microsoft should really put disclaimers up when releasing such ads. In the latest ad Microsoft chooses to take the entry-level and prepaid Nokia Lumia 521 and compares it to the top-of-the-line Samsung Galaxy S4 64GB smartphone off-contract. If it was attempting to play fair, it would have at least used the 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4, since the ad primarily focuses on price. The ad shows an actor who touts that the Nokia Lumia 521 was purchased for $149 while the Samsung Galaxy S4 was purchased off contract, for $750. The actor then realizes the Galaxy S4 costs $600 more than the Lumia 521. Since he can save $600 by choosing the Lumia 521 over the Galaxy S4, he decides to educate consumers on what they can spend that savings on and he rolls up to a Microsoft store to go shopping.
The ad could possibly work if Microsoft used a level playing field. The reason for the $600 price difference is the Lumia 521 has entry-level specs that cannot compete with the Galaxy S4. The Lumia 521 has a 4-inch 800 x 480 display, 1GHz dual-core processor, 5-megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage and 512MB of RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S4, on the other hand, features a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 Super AMOLED Full HD display, 1.9GHz quad-core processor, 64GB of internal storage and 2GB of RAM. Of course the Galaxy S4 is going to be more expensive - its specs show why.
If we are to follow Microsoft's logic, you can purchase a 2014 Kia Forte for around $16,000 or purchase a 2014 Corvette Stingray for about $57,000. Both cars will get you where you need to go, but the price difference is for a reason. Would you really take the $41,000 you saved and go spend it elsewhere? According to Microsoft, yes. Check out the video below. It's funny.
