SlashGear asks the question “Will Microsoft ever be cool like Apple?”. Hipsters have bought into the marketing of the “underdog” Apple, and have dubbed them as cool. However, how many hipsters do you see at a Microsoft event? Very little, if any. I think if a beret wearing, neck beard and thick rimmed glasses drinking a Starbucks espresso were attending a Microsoft event, he’d hear “Are you in the right place? Apple is down in Cupertino”.
I don’t really think Microsoft will ever be cool like Apple. They have a huge demographic, many of which are IT professionals, business managers, programmers, etc.. They really don’t care about the image of the software, and if they think it’s cool. They want it to work and get the job done. Microsoft’s focus is just that: keeping your business running.
Whenever Apple holds a special event, like the one on March 7 to introduce the iPad 3, the company makes it an experience. Music is blaring before the show starts, and when it kicks off, the company gets down to business. Within minutes, there’s something that will make a headline.
Microsoft’s events, though, take an inordinate amount of time to get going. The company’s executives usually recap things that we don’t really care about and only get to the good stuff after about an hour. By then, our attention is elsewhere and we’re wondering why we’ve dedicated that much time to something that, well, bores us.