Apple’s being wussy about this: they slap MS around constantly in the “Imamac, imapc” ads, which I *love*.
Apples being wussy about this: they slap MS around constantly in the Imamac, imapc ads, which I *love*. Keep in mind that the sole source for this is Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft. As has been pointed out by multiple pundits, the veracity of his claim is questionable. These pundits have raised such questions and problematic scenario issues as:
- Why would an attorney in Apple's legal department call the Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft to voice such a complaint?
- How easy is it for an unknown legal wonk at Apple to be able to get the COO of Microsoft on the line?
- Why would Apple not follow normal procedure in such offenses which is for the legal department of one company to send a "Cease and Desist" letter to the legal department of the other company?
- Why would a lawyer make a phone call that does not have a paper trail, or establish a legal time line for the ads to be withdrawn or altered?
- Apple, having been burned in the past, makes certain that there is always a proper paper or electronic mail trail for legal issues, especially where Federal issues are involved.
- If a telephone call was made, it normally would have been lawyer to lawyer in the legal departments of both companies, as a courtesy call suggesting FTC trouble might be in the offing if the ads were continued. Why call the COO?
- This "call" would be much more believable had Kevin Turner said that Tim Cook, COO of Apple, had called him on a friendly, COO to COO basis to inform him of Apple's concerns about the "Laptop Hunter" ads' inaccurate prices.
- Kevin Turner has been known to exaggerate things before.
No reporter has been able to corroborate any of this off the cuff claim of Turner's... and, of course, Apple is, as usual, its normal, totally uncommunicative self.