Pandora and Mac vs. PC

I will be the first to admit that I am a smidge obsessed with Pandora. It knows me almost too well. There have only been a few times when I had to offer it a ‘thumbs down.’ Outside of tapping into my music-loving soul, I appreciate Pandora Radio for its strides in advertising targeting.

Pandora targets, interacts and persuades me to click links, download videos and generally pay attention to its advertisers–which is not exactly an easy feat. This morning I was confronted with a brilliant advertising ploy by Microsoft. (I know I was shocked myself). Here’s how it went:

When I logged into my account, the first ’song’ to come up wasn’t a song at all. It was a picture of the iconic PC from the famed Mac v. PC ads that we have all come to know and love. The copy was “watch my ad.” I oftentimes find these TV ads to be hilarious, so I bit–and clicked on the ad. To my surprise, the link was to a Microsoft-sponsored landing page. It was extremely well-designed site that featured 10 second blurbs on PC fans from every walk of life you can imagine.

I spent a good minute or two watching random people tell me who they are and why they use PC computers. This is two minutes more than I have spent on Microsoft’s site ever. When I went back to my Pandora station, I realized the PC guy was in fact not the actor from the commercial (just someone who looks remarkably like him).

Tou Che Microsoft, Tou Che. I applaud your guerilla marketing tactic and excellent casting job.

3G iPhone Should Take Google Maps to the Next Level

A report today by GigaOm States that a GPS contract has been locked down between Apple and Broadcom.  With rumors circulating about when the 3G iPhone will actually make into the hands of consumers flying around, the only thing we really know for sure is that the new phone will have GPS. The article says that earlier comments by Apple reps claim that Google Map usage on earlier generation phones is very high. The new GPS feature will likely tie in the two technologies, so users will be able to know exactly where they are in relation to searched destinations.

It will be interesting to see how Apple prices the new phone in light of their price cut after the launch of the first gen. iPhone.  As usual Steve Jobs and team have us pretty much in the dark, but if the rumor mill is right, there might be a new iPhone within the next month.

Apple is Going After the Three Piece Suit

According to mediapost, Apple is in the process of creating a business friendly iPhone that will be able to sync with work calendars, email accounts and appointments.  Apple is hoping to compete with the holy BlackBerry.  Until now, iPhones were not able to access Microsoft Exchange, so most professionals were out of luck.  Apple recently licensed Microsoft’s ActiveSync software, to enable iPhone users to access their work accounts. 

This could be a huge step for Apple to increase usership within the business world.  The new software is slated to be released in June.