Motorola Xoom featured in ad packed with Apple references - Page 3

How on Earth is the Xoom "more like a mobile computer"? Is it because you can add widgets to the homescreen? Is that it? Because that's literally the only difference they've shown so far.

You apparently missed this article:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...diagnoses.html

Not an exact copy that would be plagiarism, but the reference is crystal clear, its even portrayed further when the main character is reading 1984!! Trust me you and everyone understood who Motorola was attacking

Excellent points. I attend a weekly breakfast with about 20-30 senior men from around town and if the topic veers into technology, the majority just don't want to hear anything about Apple. It's not that they're "PC drones" or "Blackberry fans" or anything, they're just tired of i-this and i-that all over town (it's a college town). OTOH I have had social interactions with some grad students and they are pleased as punch with their Macbooks but they weren't all lockstep i-gadget users.

However, having said that and agreed with you, I have seen a fair number of 60-somethings at coffee shops using iPads, so go figure.

Those ads didn't mock users. They mocked Windows. Only the tiny minority of people (i.e., MCSEs and Paul Thurrott) whose identity is tied to Windows were offended. Hating Windows and hating your PC has long been a part of popular culture. Those ads were no more mocking than jokes about airplane food are to the millions of people who fly in airplanes.

The Ad Manager or committee who approved the commercial is either very old or studied Advertising and Marketing in college, and became head of advertising at Motorola because he or she couldn't get a job at an Ad Agency. The backup campaign would have been"Hey dude, you're getting a Xoom!"

It helps you read about android news on a site that's not named (apple) insider. I know they post a lot of crap about android, but that doesnt mean they know what they're talking about.

-First off, the device has a full browser. Not a mobile one. What this means is that it has tabs, bookmark syncing, incognito mode, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if an update to the browser activated the Chrome web store for it. This is a very big difference from a mobile based browser blown up to a bigger screen (like on the Tab or ipad)
-Chrome style notifications. These are essentially widgets, different from what's found in android, and a lot more fitting to the tablet form factor.
-Multi-tasking switcher similar to what you have on a computer. You can see what you have open (not just app icon) and if something is running in the background, you'll see it.
-Actionbar. Again, acknowledging that it's a tablet not a phone screen, so having common tasks on screen instead of hidden in pop-ups or sub menus (you'd call this the settings menu under the gear)
-Drag and drop support in apps, full clipboard/multi-select functionality.

Then there is the UI (including the widgets you know about) that were designed for a tablet sized device initially and aren't just larger versions of their phone counterparts. This is important. iOS is consistant across devices, which is a boon for marketing, but it also has it's own frustrations. Google's trying the different approach by trying to take advantage of the new features a tablet form factor provides beyond multi-panes and pop-up menus.

We'll have to see how their take works, but for that we need reviews up.

your comments are contradicting in a way. first you say people are sick of Apple (where are your facts) because I always thought people vote with there wallets and clearly Apple is winning like: "Verizon first day sale of iPhone record breaking" and that is just for existing Verizon customers. Your contradiction is people are sick of Apple yet you say "EVERYONE" has them. Well here is my own "two sense", EVERYONE I know is quite happy with there Apple product and they all voted by buying another Apple product!

FDA approves iPad, iPhone radiology app

Look the reality is with success comes the pain. Apple is a company that is pushing out new great products every year, and people are clearly loving them so it is only natural that they are the "talk of the town" so to say. It is not like ANY of these including myself are on Apple's payroll!!

a+b=c =! a=b

I know hyperbole is a lost art, but let's use a little logic, ok?

There are more people than you would think with no technical background that are SICK about hearing about apple, and yet are still prime targets for smartphones/possibly tablets. This is because of the saturation iProducts have reached in popular culture. No, not literally "everyone" has an iDevice, but a lot of people do, and most people know several handfuls that do.

My argument doesn't contradict itself, you're just trying to split hairs to make a pun.

Quote from that article:
The FDA said the app "is not intended to replace full workstations and is indicated for use only when there is no access to a workstation,"

So it's to be used in addition to actual workstations and should only be used for serious work when there is NO OTHER OPTION. I'll stand by my original statement.

I was on Madison Avenue, back then. It was the time of the Beatles and the Vietnam War. It was also the time of Blade Runner and "1984" was a popular book.
The "new kid on the block" (Apple) makes his presence known by picking a fight with the "big shot" on the block. This is how everyone in the neighborhood knows who you are and what you can do. You don't pick a fight with the little guy and if you survive the fight, you win. This is the same strategy with the "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" campaign. Once Microsoft took notice, Apple won. Until then, Apple was just a pesky mosquito.

There was no dispute about philosophy or about being open or closed. It was about making an impact. It was a one shot gamble at the Super Bowl, but Steve Jobs picked the right ad agency and the rest is history. Good thing Steve Jobs wasn't talked into a commercial with Seinfield and shoes!!!

I am sure there are those who HATE Apple (including yourself), just like some hate Pepsi, Budweiser, General Motors, Porsche, even Microsoft, etc. With success and clearly Apple is having it comes the pain of being the "talk of the town". And all these Apple talkers including myself are NOT on Apple's payroll for sure!! So I guess Apple should just tell all there customers they are closing up shop for a few years so people can stop talking about them!! Is that what you suggest?

ah, grumpy old men! haven't you figured out yet it is basic human nature to grouse about the latest hot new thing, whatever it is? until you actually try it, that is, and discover it is pretty good after all. which is why you see other old guys with them.

And people with no "technical background" I would bet have no clue as to the difference between a Dell, HP, or a Toshiba, and more so that there is "another" system out there other than Microsoft! For most of them, it's whatever is cheaper or on sale!!
Also I would bet you any money that most of them think of an MP3 player as an iPod! Like its the only MP3 player

I don't hate apple. I own a macbook, helped my brother get a macbook pro, and convinced my parents to get an imac when their PC finally dies. Heck, the iphone's not even a bad phone for a lot of users. Apple's just not lightyears ahead of everyone else or the perfect answer for everyone like so many on this site claim.

I don't care two stones if you're on apple's payroll or not. It doesn't matter, but if you want to keep insisting that you're not on their payroll (or claim that you are) go right ahead. It doesn't matter.

And the biggest cheerleaders for any company are NEVER the people who are employed by them. This is doubly true of status companies like Apple/Starbucks/insertcarcompanyhere.

A few weeks ago, there was an article about how the iPad is being used at a major hospital in Isreal for X-rays and scans by doctors on call because immediate action that needed. Life and death situations do not wait for a doctor to wake up in the middle of the night or on the road, to drive into the hospital to look at an X-ray or a CAT scan for immediate action. The hospital was able to adapt a PC application to upload files from their databaseto the remote iPad.

If the Xoom proves to be equal to or better than the iPad 1, I'd like to know that a doctor could consult from anywhere. I would hate to be misdiagnosed if all he had was a small-screen smartphone, or a 7" Tab running the lower-resolution Android, not built for a tablet's larger screen.

Ah I understand now I do not know about you but I have been using macs for sometime now, let us just say before Macs were cool! and yea I will admit I sometime liked it better when almost no one heard of a Mac or Apple at that. For most people Windows WAS IT! But now Apple is HUGE and it is showing on the Colleges and Coffee shops and the once "think different" has now become EVERYONE WANTS TO "THING DIFFERENT"!! POINT TAKEN, I SUPPOSE

don't you realize all these attributes you cite make the Android tab much more like a standard old fashioned computer OS? but tablets are not for power users. if you want that, Aplle wants to sell you a MacBook Air. tablets are about simplifying life - the key factor that obviously the complexity-loving Android fans will never grasp.

I enjoyed the commercial, too, but 2011 won't be like 1984, because IBM and the clone makers led the market but weren't innovators on a scale anywhere close to what Apple has been and looks to be.

Sure Android is open--really great for hackers and malware artists. Buy Android and wonder when/if you'll ever get an "official" update with the fancy new features and security patches.

I use small works k?

Tab has gooder resolution than ipad. Moar dots per line

Get it now? the tab has a HIGHER pixel density (resolution) than the ipad and nearly the same number of pixels. All your issues relating to the OS (made for phone, not built for screen) are referring to the TAB specifically.

In case you missed it, I'm not defending the tab. I've actually blasted it quite a bit in my responses to you. I'm talking about the FORM FACTOR. 7 inches is more pocket able. You mention hospitals. The 7 inch form factor fits in a doctor's jacket, the iPad can't. It's not for everyone, but it's a very viable choice. Perfect for reading, browsing, and mobile use. the 10 inch screen is beter for multimedia, and if you never intend on taking the device out of your house or you have a backpack to carry it in.

As for the xoom it has a higher pixel density, more pixels, AND a bigger screen than the ipad first gen does.

Look if there is a viable market out there for a 7" tablet I am sure Apple will get into it no mater what Steve says or has said. But the truth is mobile computing is VERY young and Apple, Motorola, Dell and whoever your Favorite Tech Company will be experimenting for the years to come!!
And don't forget the iPad is a year old technology and we know that that means in this industry! ROUND TWO iPad soon

Things either have to be Simple the apple way, or they're too complicated. Right? Because no one but android geeks ever use Tabs right? and there's absolutely no reason you'd want your notifications to be handled in a way that you get useful information without it taking over the main part of your screen, right? And having true app switching is just too complicated. I mean.. you tap a button on iOS, and with honeycomb you have to... tap a button.

Have you even looked at the honeycomb previews? At all? No, I'm not talking about an apple sites commentary, I'm talking about the official videos or even the articles on a site like engadget.

And if you try defending apple's notification system, don't. Even the biggest apple fans know that it sucks.

The things I mentioned are some of the BEST aspects of computers without a lot of the bloat. The pop up notifications are extreemly useful. Heck, even and andriod-unfriendly gizmodo mentioned how much better the music controls from the notification bar were compared to apple's multi-tasking approach.

Just because it's taking some features from the desktop doesn't mean it's trying to be exactly like a desktop. That's something apple fan's won't understand. I promise you, if steve jobs released the SAME exact tabbed browsing idea this site would be praising it. Instead they write it off as "too complicated"

This type of device will allow you to do most of what you'd need a netbook/laptop to accomplish without all the crap you don't need., at least that's its aim. you can't say the same about an ipad. I've tried.

Simplify does not mean "cut everything out until you could do it all on a phone, but you like the bigger form factor"

ignoring the trolls is the best plan...

And he is proven right. They cant beat apple's leverage on the cost of components and first to market advantage. Thats the benefit of a being a industry leader as opposed to a follower, other wise know as a drone. Someone please send this memo to Motorola and their ad agency.

This was certainly a worthy follow up to their CES video rendered with 1990 technology.

"It's a big iphone argument!" Please not exactly true and even if so, is that bad? The iPhone is a great platform and before the iPad many people would say they wish there iPhone was bigger! Now it is with the iPad. For me the iPad does everything on the go. I have photography business and while on location my wife and I show the clients there pictures on the iPad, we can check email, show the clients our packages from our website or a PDF file etc. The kids watch movies while in the car on long trips, I read books I bought. So lets break it down the iPad is a movie player (portable DVD player), a book reader (kindle), a photo presenter (another computer), and a "big iPhone" add those products up and I am over a $1000 bucks and I get it all for $499.
And lets be fair tablets of ANY kind were not a consumer product before the iPad so yes tabs were only used by geeks and until a good competitor competes against the iPad that is still the case currently!

all this argumentative reply proves is that you don't grasp the difference either.

Actually they weren't mocking their potential buyers, they were mocking window OS, which many of they're eventual buyers could relate to. I personally don't care if macOS or iOS is #1 in terms of numbers. As long as it stay the best in terms of experience, I am happy.

Of the three features you just listed, my phone has two (Multiple Pages is functionally the same as Tabs, and my boomarks are synced over the air) and iPads also have both those features. So two of the three features you've picked out as differentiating a "full" browser from a "mobile" browser...Are available in a mobile browser.

You're just incapable of understanding Art. No wonder you're a staunch defender of Android. What 1984 commercial told you is Macintosh is revolutionary, while Motorola's just selling a me-too product with 3D map. That's the difference.

As of February 7, 2011, 3:36AM EST, the "2011 USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter listing of 61 Super Bowl Commercials as voted for by viewer, the Motorola Xoom "1984" commercial is ranking a measly 47. Fourteen from the bottom. Number 1 is the Budwiser Light commercial with the dogs.

I guess production value and newsworthiness did nothing to sir up viewer attention, recall or motivation. So much for the Xoom's millions spent for the commercial and its hopes of overtaking the iPad. Having to lock yourself into a contract for service pretty much has you tethered to Verizon or having one wait until Apple makes its announcement about iPad 2. If having a camera and video is important enough, go for it. The more tablets out there, the more Microsoft is going to sweat.

Motorola Xoom = late to the party. The Apple iPad = already in the pool...with the app store!

There was one Android commercial at the Super Bowl that showed a sinister guy with scissors running through alleys and into the backroom of a warehouse. Looks like Bangkok or some place in Asia. They unwrap bandages to reveal that they successfully grafted thumbs onto the Android robot so that it can now play games. It look seedy and thought it was an abortion! Turns out that it was a commercial for Sony Ericson and that you can now do games on Android. Could the all Asian cast reveal that Android's major market is in Asia? Anyway, the commercial did not even rate 61 on the "2011 USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter website.

May the Yakusa cut off your Menno thumbs and graft them onto the next Android tablet built for the Black Maket in Cambodia.

What a weird little ad. I mean, I get what they were going for. But really, what I came away with was "If you hate Apple, buy this --as of yet unexplained -- product." I suppose that's a valid approach, but it doesn't really sell the Xoom, does it?

Anyhow, I found it strange.

I see you don't post often, but what you post you post well, so keep on posting the posts !
Seriously though, well put, its obvious to most, but not the Apple Haters, sigh ...

Oh, I thought it was only Gates and Ballmer that didn't get the Apple Ad campaign (and maybe the people in the "I'm a PC" ads, purportedly a variety of ordinary computer users who were given those ludicrous lines to say). Still, I am surprised you admit to totally missing the whole story line...

Hello, I'm a Mac.
And I'm a PC.

Exactly. Two actors playing two anthropomorphized fictional characters. Justin and John were pretending to be the computers. Not the users. Their names were even "Mac" and "PC", how obvious. Users can simply choose the integrated tool that has it all together, or the one with the identity problem that struggles to cope with simple things without some degree of frustration.

It really was quite obvious -- John struggled to carry out various tasks without shutting down, he got new OS updates; Justin would say he could do some serious work, too; Justin could communicate easily with the pretty girl who said she was a camera or a printer, without needing a phrase book. Do you want me to continue?

If you are identifying with a machine, that's pretty sad -- it says more about you than what Apple thinks of the PC customer base. I'm a Mac user, and I find a lot of things in life frustrating -- I don't want to add to that by choosing a challenged computer if I can help it.

Apparently the ads did their job. It was a long running campaign and all that time the physical Apple Stores were seeing record numbers of visitors and making record sales quarter after quarter (they are about the highest earning stores per square foot in the world). And Apple claims at least half of all Mac sales go to new users.

I think most people got the point of the Apple ads: "PC" was handicapped in many fundamental ways, and that "Mac" could do the same things more smoothly. Why didn't you get it? Did MS tell you what to think when they misinterpreted it and made their extremely odd version with "ordinary" people saying "I'm a PC"? What was that all about?

This ad is pure, unadulterated rubbish. So, if everyone using Apple stuff are slaves, then Motorola creating a me-too tablet means they are also joining the brainwashed masses, and anyone using said me-too tablet is nothing but another slave.

What garbage. One day I will figure out how to get paid millions for churning out creative but utterly misguided ads for even more misguided clients.

Also, the ad doesn't even show much of anything you could do with the tablet that would actually "free" you. Books? Maps? Pinch-and-Zoom? Finger-drawing? Um, yeah, real "breakthrough" and "alternative".

The biggest irony is the real downtrodden nobodies are all those using Android junkblets.

Your post got me thinking, the Motorola advert would have been so much better if they'd used 2012. They could have spun it into the end of the world for Apple and the rise of the Xoom. But then they would have had to back it up with a device that was actually elegant and powerful enough to cause the end of the world. Too bad too, that would have been a fun and memorable commercial.

QFT


I'm willing to err on the side of "this looks possibly promising but it's been a whole gawddammned year since the iPad and still nobody has come up with anything but insanely-hyped non-competitors". The Xoom seems to follow that trend.


Indeed. I would welcome a decent tablet competitor but this... my gut tells me... no dice.