Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Website to Compare to This Market Leader

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) marketing and advertising efforts the last year or so have been focused on comparisons. Apparently Microsoft believes that customers are more sophisticated and less impressed by touting the benefits of a product or the features without answering the question, “How does that compare to another product I might be considering?”

And an underdog is always looking to compare itself to the favorite, to make the case as to why the favorite is and why should the underdog be the underdog when the features are superior. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) started this comparison campaign in earnest last year when it targeted Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and its market-leading Search feature as well as itsGmail service with Redmond’s “Scroogled” campaign which compared Bing to Google  Search and later the Outlook email client to Gmail.

The comparison train is hitting the tracks again, but this time the target is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and specifically its iPad tablet. Microsoft is not just putting together ads; it is apparently launching a dedicated website for visitors to see side-by-side comparisons of a tablet running on the Windows 8 operating system and an iPad running on iOS.  the website shows several windows devices from ASUS, HP, Dell and Microsoft’s own Surface tablet to go head to head with the 32- and 64-gigabyte iPad models.

Some of the comparisons are baserd on hardware like battery life, display size as well as weight. There is also a comparison of functionality – such as the fact that Windows 8 users can work with several apps at by focusing on native Office applications on Windows 8 and the lack of native Apple apps that are similar. Also, the comparison would have been more fair in one instance  if the iPad was allowed to have Office apps installed on them, and to have a comparison of the functionality of the native Office against the Apple iOS version of the applications. But that did not happen. Convenient?

We are not ones to necessarily judge advertising, but certainly we understand that there are lies, damn lies, statistics and advertising. But do you think? You want to know what we think?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) does seem to have some positive attributes with its Windows 8 tablets that can make a positive comparison with a market leader like the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad, but whether this will be enough to jump-start Windows tablet sales remains to be seen. Perhaps the time of this, just before the scheduled release of the Windows 8.1 update that reportedly will help ease the transition for users from the traditional desktop interface to the touchscreen design, could certainly help increase awareness of Windows in the tablet space.

Whether it will be enough for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) remains to be seen. What are your thoughts about comparison campaigns like Microsoft uses? Do you find value in them as a consumer? Give us your feedback in the comments section below.

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