Apple’s iPad mini and MacBook Pro ads

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Simple and to the point.



  • http://www.twitter.com/macmixing Dom Esposito

    Every Apple ad, “Here’s a badass product that you’re going to love the crap out of … buy it.”

  • alextheukrainian

    I have to say, Jim, you’re being very unfair to Microsoft. Their Surface ad showcasing keyboard snapping, etc. is basically identical to the first video above showing iPad mini covers. Zero is said about product in either ad, yet you bash Microsoft and praise Apple. Pointing out b/c that’s what real friends do. Even if I don’t know you, really, ha!

    • http://twitter.com/pdjudd Paul Judd

      Couple of points – one, Apple has had a tablet for several iterations – MS has never sold their own hardware and their OS isn’t even something commercially available. Second, the top ad is advertising a new version of a pre-existing product – the cover. MS’s ad are about the surface in total. It is also done much worse.

    • Tharsman

      Alex, you seem to be confused. That first ad is not an iPad Mini ad. It’s a Smart Cover ad. They are not promoting the tablet, just the covers.

      Now, if you tell me MS was only promoting the keboard too… well stil had more focus on the dancing than the keyboard.

      • alextheukrainian

        Really, just the covers? Then why is iPad Mini in the ad? C’mon. It’s a feature related to mini. As is the (optional) keyboard to Surface.

        • http://www.aichon.com Brad

          By your logic, ketchup ads shouldn’t show hotdogs at all if they’re supposed to be selling ketchup. Don’t be obtuse. Products don’t exist in a vacuum.

          For instance, many of the Smart Cover’s features (e.g. turning on the device when it’s opened, snapping to the side of the device, wrapping around the side of the device, etc.) rely on having an iPad mini in the ad as well. The iPad mini is never once highlighted as being shown to do something interesting. In fact, if you weren’t familiar with the mini, you could have easily mistaken the device as being a full-size iPad.

          Not to mention, even you called it an ad for the “iPad mini covers” in your initial comment. Backtracking now because it’s inconvenient for your argument is intellectually dishonest.

        • Tharsman

          It’s an ad for an iPad Mini accessory, and it says so in the ad description on Apple’s own YouTube channel:

          The cover that wakes up, stands up, and brightens up iPad has been redesigned for iPad mini.

          The actual iPad Mini ad is the second one, the one that shows it side by side running the same app. It clearly delivers the message: does what the iPad does, exactly the same way but it’s smaller.

          BTW, the Smart Cover is not a feature of the iPad, nor is the keyboard. Both are accessories. This ad showcases the cover on every single second. Microsoft’s show their cover less than they show the back of the tablet. Most that ad is just dancing… and those creepy creepy school girls…

    • http://www.aichon.com Brad

      Zero is said about the product? Breaking down the Smart Cover ad above, they explicitly and specifically highlight key features of the Smart Cover, sequentially one after another, each one in isolation of anything else. 0-7 seconds shows that it snaps onto the side using magnets. 8-11 seconds shows that folding it back turns the iPad mini on. 12-25 highlights the variety of colors. 25-28 shows the different ways that it can be folded and oriented for different uses. And then they use the last 10 seconds or so to end the ad with some colorful shots and branding.

      As Jim said, it’s simple and to the point in what it shows.

      In contrast, while I didn’t mind the Surface ad with the clicking and dancing as much as Jim did (I think it’s more about establishing a presence and awareness than about highlighting features), it’s hardly simple or to the point. With all of the stuff happening during the ad, the best you can say is that if they did make any attempts to highlight features that they were (with the exception of the snapping) lost in the visual noise of the ad.

  • http://twitter.com/RoadRacer DT

    OM[F]G.

    My little one (~4-1/2) says “Dad, dad, come here!”

    [new iPad mini ad with the piano/Heart and Soul bit]

    “Look, that’s your iPad, but wait wait wait…”

    [Mini slides up]

    “That’s mine! Its even white like yours!!” (My 3rd gen is white…)

    She has my old hand-me-down 1st gen, but seriously thinking about replacing that with a Mini (and a 32GB too, 16GB iOS devices are just too small for us … the wife’s 4 drives me nuts … though so does her tight rear end … )

  • http://twitter.com/SBiickert Simon Biickert

    I can’t believe I have to wait for November 2 for Apple to take my money. What is this, Soviet Russia? ;-) Will continue staring at the clock. More bulletins as events warrant.

    • http://twitter.com/RoadRacer DT

      Are you in a geographical location with a delayed release, or waiting for stores to stock the product? Just curious :)

  • http://twitter.com/drylight Diego Barros

    What’s the name of the Piano App in the iPad Mini ad? Looks good.

    • thirdofmarch

      It is one of the instruments in GarageBand.

      • http://twitter.com/drylight Diego Barros

        Thanks. I must check out GarageBand then. :)

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    The Smart Cover ad reminds me a bit of the one made for early fruit-color iMacs.