WSJ
- WSJ
MarketWatch
- MarketWatch
Barron's
- Barron's
SmartMoney
- SmartMoney
AllThingsDigital
FINS
- FINS
Factiva
- Factiva
More
- BigCharts
- Virtual Stock Exchange
- Financial News
- WSJ Asia
- WSJ Europe
  - WSJ Deutschland
- WSJ Americas
  - en Español
  - em Português
- WSJ Classifieds
- WSJ Radio
- WSJ Wine

Microsoft of Arabia? If Windows Phone 7 Is as Freaky as This Ad, BoomTown Will Take One Now!

September 7, 2010 at 5:15 am PT

Cue the desert music, mix in some swirling dust and a mirage, use a Middle Eastern font and a mysterioso tagline of “The Revolution Is Coming,” and show it at a movie screening of “Lawrence of Arabia.”

At least Microsoft (MSFT) will not be spending its badillions of advertising dollars on the launch of its Windows Phone 7–playing catch-up in the smartphone race–without some style.

While the trailer below seems to be a one-off for an event in London, it’s still very different from the basic marketing around the Apple (AAPL) iPhone (“It’s magical!”) and the Google (GOOG) Android mobile operating system (“It’s for manly men!”).

In any case, coming for the holidays, Windows Phone 7 should prove to be a welcome respite from enduring the tiresome bickering of those two behemoths.

Here’s the video of Microsoft’s sheikh effort, followed by a recent, more-hipster video of Xbox Live on the Windows Phone 7:

Tagged with: advertising, Android, Apple, BoomTown, digital, England, entertainment, event, font, Google, hardware, holidays, Internet, iPhone, Kara Swisher, Lawrence of Arabia, London, marketing, Microsoft, Middle Eastern, movie, operating system, screening, smartphone, telecom, The Revolution Is Coming, trailer, video, Windows Phone 7, Xbox Live

comments so far. Add yours.

Chris

In Apple’s TV commercials, they show a real phone running real software. Microsoft shows a cartoon.
Anonymous

Is it me or is Microsoft kinda like the nerdy guy that tries so desperately to be cool…but just can’t pull it off. At the end of the day I’m left unaffected emotionally.
Anonymous

I think Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer might fantasise that he is Lawrence of Arabia, galloping through the desert with his sword, slaying iPods and Androids.

Unfortunately, his Windows Phone 7 is not revolutionary as claimed, but is late to the party.
Anonymous

The home screen icons don’t even fit the display fully. It looks all chopped up!
Anonymous

I thought it was a great trailer! I agree with the “Boy Genius” review… “They have created a brand new mobile operating system packed full of clean, modern, and sometimes even beautiful design elements”. I’m going to wait until I get one in my hands before deciding.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000102680446 Rod Penzca

I get what the ad is doing. The LofA riff is noted as one of the greatest introductions of a character on film. But this just speaks louder about MS needing to dump its ad agency/
Anonymous

Gee, cool….I wonder if it makes phone calls??? I’ve been looking for a phone that makes calls…..
http://garyfales.com/ asset protection

what a novel concept…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5UKUAHZLI4NKXUACPZOO5HBNEY G

Wasn’t Android late to the party, too, and now look what is happening to Apple’s party. . . . That said, I don’t think that Win7Phone will succeed. Too many people are going crazy over Android. Mindshare is in Google’s favor, just like everything else. It’s getting boring in the tech sphere when everything is either Google, Apple, Facebook, or maybe Microsoft.