Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Going All Apple Inc. (AAPL)-like With New Ad Concept?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is almost unapologetically like most other tech companies, especially the big ones – there is very little innovation, just upgraded tweaks to what another company already developed. There is a saying “if you ain’t stealin’, you ain’t tryin’.” Certainly Microsoft has tried to be innovative, but when it comes to making revenue, unless there is a major brainstorm coming out of Redmond, you can excuse the company for taking an idea already developed and just running with it.

Advertising is big business in tech, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is working on a  new advertising concept on its Windows-powered devices. OK, so it’s not exactly new, just new to Microsoft and it appears to take after the iAd concept by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and seems to have elements of the Apple iOS 7 operating system and its panoramic appearance on its wallpaper – where a user swipes in one direction and the scene on the wallpaper seems to move in that direction.

Microsoft is introducing this new iAd-like concept to developers now, and it is meant to address the challenge of having advertising on mobile that is not distracting or too invasive of the user’s experience on the device with its generally smaller screen than what is found on laptops or PCs.

This concept appears to “hide” ads inside an app shown on the home screen. As Microsoft Corproation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has developed this concept, the ad opens to a wide, panoramic view with interactive sections. As a user clicks on a section of the ad, it may have a video or mini-commercial, and as the user swipes in a direction, the video seems to move in that direction. Clicking on another part of the ad may bring up a full page of information about the product, and so on. There is a pretty cool tutorial video available to show how this type of ad would work. You can see it on the next page.

This concept seems to take iAd by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and moves it to a new level of interactivity and providing a lot of motion, images, and lots of information if the user wants it. The concept is described as an interactive “magazine” contained inside a single ad. What do you think? Wold you find these kinds of ads too intrusive, or do you think Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be on to something? Let us know in the comments section below.

See the video:

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