How Straight Talk Became a Casualty of Mac vs. PC Wars
It's a Scenario Not Uncommon in Technology Marketing
| |
| Judy Shapiro | |
The PC-Microsoft campaign is about how you get more "value" for your dollar with PCs. While not brilliant, it is straightforward. The key message is you pay a premium for Mac-brand bling, whereas a PC gives more features and performance for the money. Score one to Microsoft for a clear message.
Now on to the Mac campaign, which has launched two spots. The first spot shows average "Judy Consumer" making a decision between a Mac and a PC. Judy Consumer first asks PC Guy if a PC can give her hassle-free computing without "thousands of viruses." PC Guy tries to tell her that these types of problems are inherent to the PC experience. When she hears that, she decides to go with Mac. In another spot, PC Guy is dressed up as Mac Guy to misdirect Judy Consumer into thinking that Macs and PCs suffer from the same host of security issues. In this case, Judy Consumer goes off to think about what to do. But in both Mac spots, the clear implication is that Macs don't have the same security issues as PCs do because Macs are technologically built to be more secure.
Now we all know, unhappily, that in any battle between titans, there is always collateral damage. In this epic battle, Apple seemed happy to sacrifice straight talk in its bid to win market share. It told the truth -- but it did not give Judy Consumer the straight story.
It is true that Macs, in fact, do have fewer viruses, as the spots say. But that's not the whole of it. Many of us in technology also know that Macs are no more inherently secure than PCs. The reason they have fewer viruses is simply because their relatively small market share does not yet warrant the attention of hackers.
Indeed, just to make sure I was right technologically, I double-checked my facts. I posed the following scenario to the CEO of a well-known security company: "If PCs and Macs had equal market share, would Macs be safer than PCs?" His blink-of-an-eye answer was, "No, Macs would not be safer."
He gave me an excellent metaphor for the situation. He said Macs are no safer from viruses than Native Americans were safe from smallpox before the Europeans came. True, Native Americans were not dying from small pox before the Europeans -- not because they were immune but because they had never been exposed. We all know the tragic truth in that case.
And that is what I take issue with: Apple wants Judy Consumer to believe that its lack of viruses results from better Mac engineering or security technology. That is not straight talk; that is misdirection. Even worse, that strategy promotes bad computing practices, because many threats result from bad things happening on sites (such as identity theft) that have nothing to do with the computer. But Judy Consumer has been told that Macs are safer, so she is not really thinking much about security at all anymore, and that is not good.
The saddest part of this story is that the fact that Apple is hardly alone. (Sigh.) Misrepresentation of the truth by technology marketers to gain competitive advantage isn't isolated to Apple. Many tech companies feel they can be slipperier with the facts because, heck, Judy Consumer won't really understand it anyway, and so it's easier to get away with. She's unlikely to understand that when a small chat community wants to seem bigger than it is, it will boast about its millions of "users," obscuring the reality that millions of user IDs translates to a mere 10,000 active, real users. Or when the Bing ad campaign promotes a "decision engine," Judy Consumer is left scratching her head about what Bing exactly decides. And when Judy Consumer is trying to buy a new storage service, she is not clear about what is free and what is a premium service.
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that you have to be a weak competitor in the battle for market dominance. But why does straight talk in technology marketing have to be one of the casualties of war?
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR | |
|
Judy Shapiro is senior VP at Paltalk and has held senior marketing positions at Comodo, Computer Associates, Lucent Technologies, AT&T and Bell Labs. Her blog, Trench Wars, provides insights on how to create business value on the internet. |
|
RSS Feed›› DigitalNext
Most Recent Posts 
- We Still Have Plenty For Which to Be Thankful
- American Cancer Society Builds on Birthday Effort
- Google, This Side of $100 Billion
- We're Raising Superheroes, So Can You
- Sorry Rupert, News Content Is Not a Google Killer
- Tipsy Turkey Brought to You by Georgi Vodka
- AOL Kicks Running Man Out Of Bed
- 'Giving Thanks': Helping the Hungry
- More Asians in TV Spots? It's About Time
- Is the Promise of Viral Success Holding the Ad Industry Back?
- JC Penney's 'Doghouse' Returns
- Autism Speaks Hosts Chicago Fundraiser
- The Invisible Hand of Agency Culture
- Buffalo Soldiers Wings & Things
- Publicis' 'Boost' Wins Create for a Cause Contest
White Paper
The New Female Consumer: The Rise of the Real Mom
This Advertising Age and JWT white paper explores what multiple generations of American women want when it comes to family, work and life in the 21st century, decades after the women's liberation movement.
Bob Garfield
Verizon Exiles IPhone to Island of Misfit Toys for the Holidays
Too-Cool Apple Now Finding Itself on the Receiving End of Competitor Ridicule
Special Report
America's Hottest Brands
Advertising Age Honors the Top Brands of the Year -- and the Brains Behind Them
3 Minute Ad Age Video
Wal-Mart CMO Defends Private-Label Brand Expansion
Cites 'Pay-Check Cycle' Customers Who Don't Eat at Month's End
Special Report
Marketer of the Year: Hyundai
The carmaker won handily in our reader poll, besting Walmart, McDonald's, Lego and Amazon
Ad Age Video
Eddie Murphy's Long-Term Effect on Ad Agency Diversity
The Video Story of Dallas' Marcus Graham Project
Weekly Online Poll
Will small digital-production shops working directly with clients turn big digital agencies into unnecessary middlemen?
White Paper: 2010 America
What the 2010 Census Means for Marketing and Advertising
2010 America explains what you need to know about the biggest consumer market-research project of the decade: the 2010 U.S. census. Demographics expert Peter Francese, author of this highly readable Ad Age white paper, analyzes what the census will reveal about the changing face of consumers.
Most Read Most E-Mailed
Most Read Most E-mailed
Be part of the celebration at The Ad Age Media Mavens Awards Luncheon
Sponsored by ESPN. Join the world's leading media strategists for a celebration of creative thinking, innovation and a look at how the best are preparing for 2010. More
(What is RSS?)
It's something we should all think about. Thanks for this post.
Channel Web had an article written on 8/27.
"Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) confirmed Wednesday afternoon that it has added antimalware as well as a host of other security enhancements to the latest version of Mac OS X, dubbed Snow Leopard, set to be released Friday ... which Apple slipped into the upcoming release of Snow Leopard.
Notice the phrase "slipped in"...
And then the U.K. Register ran another article a day later on how hackers are exploiting the security gaps in the Apple's new OS.
"Virus slingers are taking advantage of the release of Apple's Snow Leopard operating system by offering malware from sites touting operating system upgrades."
*sigh* - what's poor Judy Consumer to think...
Judy Shapiro
The question you raise is a tough one -- but to me Mac is doing what every smart company should do - use every bullets in their arsenal.
No wonder on the list of least trusted professions, advertising ranks in the bottom of the batch with the politicians. The author raises valid questions that we are often too intimidated to mention for fear of losing market advanatge.
But the ultimate cost can be high for all concerned. Apple loses credibility - ultimately and consumers are more vulnerable than ever because they are no longer diligent.
It's not easy but a worthy goal.
Can this "CEO of a well-known security company" explain why there has been a virus for iPods running Linux, found in the wild? A platform that counts in the thousands, tops, worldwide. Can this guy further explain why there has been no virus for the tens of millions of unsecured Macs in nine years of Mac OS X? Virus, mind you. Not those Trojans that come in the equivalent of glassy horses with torrented iWork and Photoshop copies, or ask for your admin password for showing you porn.
Regardless of the reason, Macs ARE more secure NOW. And they are just as capable or more so than a PC. And despite growing market share, the hackers are still 'leaving it alone' so go buy a Mac. Things probably won't change much (with regard to viruses) in the next upgrade cycle (that is, until it's time to buy a new computer) so you will have at least one upgrade cycle that is virus free. (wouldn't that be nice?) If Macs, remain 'obscure', then you can continue to be virus free. If not, you can decide to jump back into PC land. But wouldn't you like to have a worry free computing experience RIGHT NOW! (and not have to wait for Windows 7 or 8 or Sahara?
As I read somewhere else (paraphrasing):
"Obscurity might explain where there are fewer Mac viruses, it doesn't explain why there are none".
First off, the mac ads indicate that there are significantly less viruses on Mac OS X than on windows. This is actually under representing the truth. There are well over a 100,000 documented viruses for windows and exactly 0 for the OS X. Not a 1,000 (which would still be significantly less), not 100, not 10, not even 1.
Your follow up comments only further misrepresent the the truth. Viruses are not the same as malware. Currently there are over 1,000,000 bits of malware floating around for Windows based PC's this includes viruses, trojan horses, adware, exploits and whatever other nasties that are around. There are less than 10 for the OS X (about 0.001%). Of these there are a few "proof of concepts" developed but not released and trojans that are included in various illegal downloads of software. All of the Mac nasties require the user to download something (usually from a bittorrent link), ignore the warning about "item downloaded from the internet", provide their user name and password, and hit okay to install it. There currently is no virus protection software to prevent user stupidity. In the case of the Mac, it is preventing those bits of malware that it knows of from installing (preventing user stupidity!).
Your field expert is someone who sells software to protect people from all these nasties. They need to propigate fear to increase sales. There is a currently untouched market of millions of consumers who have not yet needed their software. Since there is no real threats the only way to generate sales in that market is to spin the fear. Which is what they are doing, and you are helping them.
The debate about whether Mac's deserve their virus free status also caught attention of Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt in his article; "Why are there no Mac viruses?"
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/09/02/why-are-there-no-mac-viruses
.
His article provided an excellent technical exploration of the argument (for the record, my post was never intended as a technological security comparison between Mac and PC).
His bottom line answer – Mac's are safer BUT ... (and here it comes) they are not invulnerable and no one knows how long their current invulnerability status will last.
At least I am in good company.
Judy Shapiro
He is right, you are wrong.
Fact: there are no no known viruses in the wild for Mac OS X
Fact: There are millions and millions of computers running Mac OS X all over the world.
Fact: The first one who writes a true virus for the Mac would be hailed as a god in those circles
And please, please do not throw viruses and trojans together - in ANY argument. Any kid in any basement can write a trojan for any OS, because they rely on social engineering to successfully spread, not on security flaws. Read up on it. Of course, anyone working for a security firm is not going to be keen to point out the very significant distinction to anybody who writes, because they want everything to be just 'malware', so that they can scare as many as possible sell their product, even those who use an OS where all they need is common sense - you know, because there are no self-replicating viruses out there.
An please, everybody knows that no OS is invulnerable. "Here it comes". Incredible. Am I to understand that you try to support your helpless article by: "Here it comes - Macs are not invulnerable". Fantastic. Nobody, not Apple, nor Apple resellers, nor the staff in the Apple stores, nor the Apple marketing people, nor the Apple fanboys or whatever, has ever thought or expressed the notion that Macs are invulnerable.
It's not news, Judy in Tech.
There is no debate over whether Macs deserve their virus free status. Macs are virus free. Full stop.
"The reason they have fewer viruses is simply because their relatively small market share does not yet warrant the attention of hackers." ATTENTION HACKERS: BRING IT ON!
6:51 PM Aug 8th from web
judyshapiro
http://twitter.com/judyshapiro/status/3200855678
Judy, Get a m
I am betting it wasn't a Mac.
The security through obscurity myth is really getting old. This argument is becoming even more untenable as the years go by and Mac OS X market share increases. Mac owners tend to be more affluent. In addition, hardly any use anti-virus software. Sounds like a prime target to me. So why have they not be targeted?
The fact is that Macs are far more secure than PCs. Mac OS X is based on Unix which was designed from the ground up to be secure in a networked environment. Windows was designed before the internet really took off and network security was added as an after thought. Vista/Windows 7 are more secure than their predecessors, but Windows security is still a band-aid.