Apple Uses Microsoft Mobile Strategy to Legitimatize iPad Pro (Premium)

This week, Apple unveiled a set of new TV ads for the iPad Pro. One of them will be particularly interesting to Microsoft enthusiasts.

I don't normally write up Apple ads, or any ads for that matter. But examining ads can actually be useful. That is, an advertisement is an explicit statement of strategy intent, aimed right at the buying public. They're something to study.

Anyway, I do pay attention to Apple's advertising, and this week the firm unveiled a set of 4 new TV ads for the iPad Pro. A couple of points about the timing of these ads:

The iPad Pro has not been updated in almost a year, so it's odd that Apple is making a sales push now. Most Apple watchers expect to see new iPad Pro versions/models by mid-year.
Apple's iPad business has now experienced falling sales in each of the 12 consecutive quarters. (That is three full years of iPad sales falling. Not "slowing," but actually going downhill.) The iPad Pro has helped Apple improve margins a bit, but not unit sales or market share.
There is a hypocritical nature to the iPad Pro in that it is clearly influenced by Microsoft's Surface devices and the broader 2-in-1 PC category it formalized. After all, Apple CEO Tim Cook once compared Surface and 2-in-1s to a converged toaster and refrigerator. And then made one of his own.

So Apple is advertising this 1.0 product again, 11 months after it offered a second iPad Pro model and 15 months after it starting selling the original model. Neither of which has ever been updated since.

And the ads are what you'd expect. Three of the four highlight key advantages of this product over PCs. Integrated LTE for always-available connectivity. It's simpler than a PC. And you will never get any viruses.

Yes, the real Apple nerds in the audience are right to get an "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" vibe from these ads. (And yes, you nerds should be troubled that Apple has pushed Mac aside here.)

But that's not what's interesting about these ads.

What's interesting is that the fourth of the four ads. The only one of these ads which doesn't highlight an iPad Pro feature that is not available on Windows PCs. The one that is about ...

Microsoft Word.

Quoting a supposed tweet in which someone asks Twitter (instead of Googling it like a normal person) whether Microsoft Word is available on the iPad, the voice over intones, "Yeah. It is. Just head to the App Store and download it. Now you have Microsoft Word on your iPad Pro."

(There's no mention of the fact that Microsoft Word is somewhat constrained on iPad Pro and other mobile devices unless you pay for Office 365. Features like advanced editing, formatting and co-authoring require a subscription.)

"And it works with Apple Pencil."

Ah boy. As you might now, Apple Pencil is Apple's answer to Surface Pen and the various active pens that ship with many 2-in-1 PCs. Unfortunately for the Microsoft fans in the audience, this stylus has gotten raves reviews, including from some ...