Apple Computer debuts two-page Mac OS X Tiger print ad in Time Magazine (with image)

Apple Computer has debuted a two page Mac OS X Tiger advertisement in the first two pages two pages after the inside cover in the new issue of Time Magazine.

The ad shows two cinema displays, one on each page on a light blue background, showing a screenshot of Spotlight in action on the left page and a screenshot of Dashboard widgets on the right.

The accompanying text reads:

(Left page) Find stuff.

Introducing Mac OS X Tiger. The world’s most advanced operating system now puts even more power at your fingertips. With new features like Spotlight, Mac OS X’s amazing search technology that lets you instantly find anything on your Mac – documents, e-mails, contacts, bookmarks, images, even things inside PDF files.

(Right page) Find out stuff.

And Dashboard, a whole new world of timesaving widgets. Instead of having to visit multiple websites for things like weather forecasts, stock queries, business listings or airline flights, Dashboard brings it all to you instantly, then disappears instantly so you can go back to what you were doing. Just two of Tiger’s more than 200 new features that will change how you use your computer.

MacDailyNews Take: More, and on TV, too, please.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple show its patented Mac OS X ‘Genie Effect’ in TV ads? – October 07, 2004
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003

67 Comments

  1. As I mentioned in another thread, it’s also in the current issue of The Economist.

    I’m curious to see who Apple is targeting, so let’s try to keep tabs on where the ad (or other variations) pop up.

  2. Features such as Expose, Widgets and Spotlight really need television to capture the livelyness of Mac OS X. Print is too static to communicate the strength of these features. If you didn’t know better, a reader could simply view the Widget screen as simply being a bunch desk accessories cluttering up the screen. I can hear it now, “I got a calculator on my PC. What’s the big deal?” Bring on the TV and animated web ads!

  3. It’s about time Apple shows off OSX to the general public! OSX is what made me try a Mac back in 2003 and I’m so glad I did. It was the best OS I have ever used at the time and I have used Windows, Linux and BSD. Today I use Apples latest version of OSX, Tiger and now this is the best OS I have ever used. To bad the same can’t be said for Windows. Not that much difference from Windows 95 to XP.

    I believe if Apple does some great TV ad’s showing off what Tiger and iLife can do, we will be in double digit market share in no time. The time is right as people are sick of Windows and Linux is still not a good choice for the general public. Buy a Mac, it just works.

  4. Greg I agree. The left screen is a spotlight search and the top item is “re: soccer practice today”

    The whole add is soccer themed, so the right screen should have the dashboard widgets overlayed on an open iCal window with the soccer practice event, or on a Pages or MS Word doc entitled Soccer Schedule or something like that.

    Zac

  5. First the Print ads. Then TV, so you can say to yourself and others “Hey I say that in a mag ad yesterday”. Then we can all sit back and watch as the switch begins to happen. Not all at once but slow and steady. Just the way the stock likes it.

  6. Nothing in this ad to get Windows users excited. Most of them don’t know anything about OSX, so why not hit the big points of the OS, instead of a few new Tiger features?

  7. Constructive criticism –
    The ad’s lack impact. A lot of wasted space. Get rid of the computer screens and the power blue background behind them. Get a dark background for impact.

    Sell the OS, not the computer. Sell the sizzle, not the stake.

    In the TV ads, fast music and short but cool screen shots showing OS X in action with cool and useful stuff. Need to counter the faults impression that the Mac can’t do much and doesn’t have much software available.

    Impact, Impact, Impact!!!

  8. Here’s my take on this:

    The ads are OKAY, but the real problem is that it doesn’t address some of the main reasons that Windows users would want to switch over to the Mac:

    NO VIRUSES
    NO SPYWARE
    NO HACKERS GETTING INTO OUR MACHINES
    NO CRASHES/FREEZES

    These are key reasons to switch over to the Mac. These are the top selling points of the Mac. These are things that Windows users are scared of on a daily basis, and these are the things that make the headlines on a daily basis.

    THESE are the things that Apple needs to be touting in their ads.

    The current ad does nothing to entice ANYONE except someone who is ALREADY a Mac user and knows what the hell Apple is talking about.

  9. Apple needs to make sure they fix all the bugs in Tiger before they unleash it on the world. This is Apples best shot to gain marketshare and convert WinTel users…so they need to make sure they get it right.

    I think they have held back on mass (TV) advertising soley for this reason. It’s almost there.

  10. “NO VIRUSES
    NO SPYWARE
    NO HACKERS GETTING INTO OUR MACHINES
    NO CRASHES/FREEZES”

    Have you not listened to what SJ said a few days ago?

    No crashes/freezes? I guess that KP an hour ago doesn’t count, huh? Please…

  11. Sorry to disappoint Thelonius, my Newsweek also has the same ad.

    Why don’t you jump the American Red Cross’s shit as well, they’ve been reporting the toilet torture at Gitmo since 2003. Oh I forgot, the White House was raising an artificial stink to take our minds off the Downing Street memo from a week earlier.

  12. This is an okay start, but they need to add advertising for the computer, the software, the accessories (iPod) and show how they all interconnect.

    The problem with advertising just OS X is that it is going to be of interest primarily to Mac owners that have an older version of OS X. Windows users can’t go out and buy Tiger and expect it to work on their computer. And most people don’t go shopping for an OS anyway. They either upgrade whatever they already have or take whatever comes when they purchase a new computer. So Apple needs to sell the whole package, not just one part that is only useful to a select few.

    While it is very important that Apple advertises Tiger, they can’t stop there or else it will be a waste of advertising money.

  13. Just saw the advertisement in real life. Sadly, it’s really ineffective, and it’s almost impossible to read the white text on the light blue background. Very disappointed in this ad. Doesn’t work at all.

  14. Most people will think it is an ad for monitors.
    Most people will not even notice it is for apple.
    The ad people assume all consumers know what “Mac” means. Or “OS” or “Tiger”. Or all of them together.

    Consumers will read this:
    “Just two of Tiger’s more than 200 new features that will change how you use your computer.”

    And think it is a new software for their computer – their PC computer. They will not necessarily relize one needs an Apple computer to run this software.

    Test it out – let your mom read the ad (or other PC owning adult) then ask her what it is they are selling in the ad.

  15. or they might read it, understand what the product is, and just plain not care. I think you’ll find this w/ many readers.

    Those that are interested will say “great, I want it” and then find out it costs them $500+ to play ball and say no.

  16. Also, they telling people that they can search through their computers is not exacly exciting. They don’t emphasize the fact that you can search for a word within any document, email etc. the only reference is that you can find content in pdf files but a lot of people don’t even know what a pdf file is. people are just going to think: ” I can’t believe you cou;dn’t searc on macs until now – what a joke”.

  17. stantheman:

    I had a couple of kernal panics back in the earliest days of Jaguar. None with Panther. None so far with Tiger. That would be zero kp’s over a 20+ month period of extremely heavy use (video/audio editing).

    Please. There isn’t a Wintel machine out there with that kind of track record. And please don’t try to claim otherwise.

    (Incidently, most kernal panics are a result of system addtitions and third party software. The Mach kernal is stable as hell).

    You may now go back to your wonderful Windows experience. And feel free to stay away for an extended period.

  18. Also in the front of Forbes this week.

    I too think that this ad sucks and is completely ineffective. The copy writer should be shot along with whomever it was at Apple that approved it, even if it was Steve.

  19. Wow.. around 4 big name zines so far..

    And you guys want a full motion ad for…….software?

    When was the last time you saw a great ad for software (games don’t count, of course).. I mean.. it’s an OS!

    Well you’re probably gonna say, show iLife, show a slick montage of Aqua goodness.. show expose.. show a few pretty widgets..

    Actually, that would be cool for like 30 seconds, they could run it in the US and any country where they had APple Stores and at the end of the ad say sth like..

    To test drive the new Mac OS X, check it out at your nearest Apple Store..

    (you have to help people find an apple vendor)

  20. To test drive the new Mac OS X, check it out at your nearest Apple Store..

    should read

    To test drive the new Mac OS X, go to http://www.apple.com

    (and provide links from the main web site to a local Apple Store or Reseller), something like, “where test drive I buy a Mac?” and you put in your zip code or something like that…

    They should be paying US…

  21. To those of you that are suggesting putting no viruses/spyware/etc in the ads… Steve Jobs was quoted this week (in his D3 speech as noted here on MDN) as saying that security is an issue on all platforms and that computers should not be advertised that way – perhaps concerned that if Apple really starts saying “we have no viruses” the Mac will finally be a target and someone might find some way to do it?

    PS – Apple stockholder
    Owner of four Macs including my original Mac Plus, my AlBook and my dual 2.5 G5

  22. the add isn’t horrendous, and it at least gets exposure out there to wintel readers. most of the readers of those magazines are in a business setting, so they know what an operating system is, and especially in forbes and time… apples been voted #1 business a couple times or something, and readers in the business world know what apple is… I think it may be aimed to trying to get offices to swithc to tiger.

  23. What Kernal Panic? blabs: “Please. There isn’t a Wintel machine out there with that kind of track record. And please don’t try to claim otherwise.”

    I claim otherwise. Owner of macs and pcs.
    No, repeat, no problems with pcs.
    pcs doing video and maya and photoshop work.

  24. My thought on this as was “big deal”.
    I can run widgets on my PC and I can find what I’m looking for on a PC as well.
    No reason to buy a Mac.
    Nice looking monitor though.

  25. Some guy on the plane was reading Forbes, which had the ad placed right inside the cover. I agree, though — though spotlight is life-changing, the other stuff is really just nice fluff.

    The way you sell an OS to people is to tout its security, stability and ease of use.

    Interesting, though, that they’re going after the business crowd. Though why they should give a toss about widgets (when they can use Konfabulator) is beyond me. Tell them that they’ll greatly increase uptime while greatly reducing security threats, and they’ll beat a path to your door.

  26. I can run widgets on my PC and I can find what I’m looking for on a PC as well.
    No reason to buy a Mac.
    +++++++

    “Big Deal.. I can get cupholders in my Pinto.. no reason to get a BMW.. even if it is competitively priced.. nice rims though”

    Your PC runs? How did you dodge the Sober virus? I hear there’s a lovely ‘uninstall’ virus going around to which Mac users (as usual) are totally immune.

  27. For the record there are about 1000 widgets for Konfab.. about 230 for Dashboard..

    It’ll be nice to track the date when Apple actually surpasses Konfab for widgets.. since it’s built right into the OS…

    I’m sure someone will do the math on the speed of widgets being built (with Dashboard being about a month old..) but let’s not.. I don’t think it’s a consistent thing..

  28. I claim otherwise as well. Did I not just indicate that I experienced a KP only an hour before I wrote my first post? While i’m glad (actually I don’t really care :/) you’ve experienced no KPs in 20+ months, that’s not the average Mac user’s experience…and thus not truthfull marketing to be saying so. You want certifiable proof…go to your local college/university’s Mac lab and watch how many users experience a KP doing hard video/audio editing…I bet you might be surprised.

    As for my Windows experience, while my machine is not perfect (no machine is), I havent crashed my computer in a long long time. A well maintained, firewalled XP Pro computer is a rather stable machine (about as stable as my Panther iMac). And that my friends is why Steve Jobs and any other rational minded Apple exec would never authorize an ad compaign solely based on the perceived notion that Mac’s don’t crash, freeze, and even hiccup ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> Why? Because they damn well know that every machine, be it Mac or PC does.

  29. You see a monitor in a magazine. If you are a computer person (who isn’t?), then you look at it. You look at what’s on the monitor. Windows Guy thinks: “That doesn’t look like MY monitor! What is that?” So you read the blurbs. You read how easy it is to find stuff. Windows Guy thinks: “Geez! Wish i could do that!” Windows Guy tells other Guys at Office. Other Guys at Office tell IT Guy. IT Guy tells Purchasing People. That’s how advertising works. Who cares about a TV ad? Who watches TV? You people just want to see Mac glorification videos. Make one yourself. Ads are expensive. They target a specified audience. This ad is perfect. Shut up.

  30. Personally I think Apple needs to amp the fact that they are a real, viable and sensible alternative to Windows. I’d rather they remind the encumbent (encumbered) Windows folk that MS Office is available and runs virtually seemlessly on the Mac. That there is little that a Mac can’t do that their precious Windows box can do, and that in fact, the Mac does virtually every mainstream thing better than Windows (by a country mile).

    Advertise compatibility; advertise stability; advertise functionality; advertise usability. Some of these issues can be done in print, some are better through the media of TV. For god sake remind people that Apple make computers, not just the iPod and tell them the price.

    Its basics, but right now the computing world is reaching a critical mass of people who a somewhat computer aware but have been mostly informed through MS FUD. Apple needs to dispel these myths first and foremost – then people might be more receptive to what they are advertising currently.

    I agree with a previous poster; these adds seem like they are targeted to current Mac users who havent upgraded.

    Apple, maintain your current momentum. The Redmond beast is stirring.

  31. About KPs and crashing: since Panther I have hardly ever seen a KP and since XP I have not had one single blue screen of death.

    On XP one does experience ‘program.exe has encountered a difficulty and will need to close’, but if that’s a crash, then so is my trying to open an app on the Mac and getting a jumping object in the dock without further action. At least Windows attempts to tell me what’s wrong (not that I can read stackdumps…) even if that is no use.

    Stability-wise, both OSs have reached a point where it is no longer an issue.

    People here are right: what Apple needs to stress is the security-edge that MacOS has over Windows. From the fact that Steve refuses to do that, I think I can conclude that he ain’t all that sure himself that that will not change in the future.

    One thing is sure: your average Windows user is not going to be impressed by a search function and a bunch of internet shortcuts…

  32. So Spotlight and Dashboard are the reasons one should dump their windows computer (and all the software that one has collected) and go spend megabucks on an apple computer and software.

    Wow – a search engine and eyecandy. That´s what Apple thinks people are impressed with.

    First of all – how often does anyone really search for something on their computer? not very often. And if they do most people are already organized to find it. And if the file has a name like “wr03f92304.jpg” Spotlight is not going to help find it.
    And Dashboard….
    Hmmm, Apple is the BMW of computers. How many BMW owners put glitzy,gaudy, chrome and trashy do-dads all over their cars? Pimp my computer!
    And do I really need a stupid thing that tells me the weather in Bumsquat, Wisconsin? Or if I own stocks – I visit my brokerage or mutual fund website.

    The Apple ad gives no one any reason to buy an Apple computer. (Wonder if those nice-looking monitors in the ad would work on my PeeCee?????)

  33. Sorry to say so: this ad is crap.
    the special thing about using a mac is the user-experience, it’s not the features. To advertise features is like advertising the sweet taste of a coke instead of the refreshing feeling of drinking one.

  34. Apple’s hitting the mainstream…I’m loving it! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Where here…how do you like them apples?

    CT8

  35. “If it ain’t broke…just keep it shiny.”

    Apple Computer

    It has a nice ring to it. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”kiss” style=”border:0;” />

    CT

    ?

  36. If Apple is targeting the decision makers of Corporate
    America and beyond…maybe they should bend over
    backwards and put together a brochure and hand deliver
    it to them. Maybe then, they will take notice.

    The rest of us might not have the time, resources, or
    gumption to think differently with Apple due to forces
    beyond our control, unfortunately.

    Time = Money = Peace

    It’s really difficult to fight the Tide. Apple will
    get thier chance.

    CT oooooooo[——————- Sphinx…Phoenix…Nickname…Knuckles………ZOOM!

  37. This is the same ad that’s in the same place inside the Australian Macworld that arrived in my mail yesterday (although the print is black on light-blue background, rather than white as reported above – sensible Aussies!). Must have been booked well ahead in all these publications, for all of them to come out on the same day, even a monthly mag like Macworld.

  38. Apple did everything right and settled down with one thing remainig to be done.I think , that is marketing. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”excaim” style=”border:0;” />
    Compare it to Windows, God ! that can be related to earth and sky. At marketing Windows is at sky level and at technology Mac is at sky. Marketing won. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool smile” style=”border:0;” />
    May be Apple have to re-think about the marketing strategy. Now Mac is even supposed to face Linux.You have no good reason to stay calm! So ,
    ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smirk” style=”border:0;” /> My suggestion : Before someone paves a way for you to get out of the market , please see that you kick out someone else or atleast you penitrate more than the “VIRUS OS”.

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