Microsoft has a new insult for Apple and the question is why
The BackBook Pro?
Elegant mockery is to be admired.
None was more cutting and true than Samsung's comedic exposition of Apple's fanperson cult a mere decade ago.
Over the years, many brands have targeted Cupertino and its products for ridicule, but rarely with great success.
Which brings me to Microsoft. It's repeatedly laughed at the idea that the iPad Pro is a computer. And as for the MacBook, it's constantly insisting it's an expensive joke.
It's all splendidly competitive and surely inspires Surface-owners to extreme pride. Simultaneously, such carping acknowledges that MacBooks really are quite popular. Which frustrates the Surface-maker.
The latest Microsoft assault on Apple, however, might have one or two people wondering whether Redmond has run out of insults.
In an ad recently posted to Microsoft India's Twitter account, the MacBook is shown to be dreadfully deficient. It doesn't stretch or have a removable screen. And, well, that's it.
It's all true, even if at least some users don't really need to turn their screens into iPads. Perhaps because they already have iPads.
And I'm slightly concerned that Microsoft has a whole range of Surface laptops, which, well, don't have detachable screens and don't do precisely the things the MacBook doesn't do.
But I'm more concerned about the derisive term used for the MacBook: the BackBook.
The 2-in-1 range of Surface devices come with laptop-to-tablet versatility, enabling you work from anywhere, anytime. Sign up for a demo. pic.twitter.com/p9vTM3wMAu
— Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) March 24, 2021
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My worry is whether this epithet will stick.
Actually, my worry is whether it's either funny or even offensive.
You want an insult to be remembered, enjoyed, and repeated. You want it to have an unpleasant truth at its core. You want it to hurt.
But the BackBook?
Is this trying to say that the MacBook is somehow a product from way back? Is it suggesting it's back-breakingly expensive? Is it suggesting that owning a MacBook will get your back up? Or perhaps it's much harder with a MacBook to back it up?
I fear it's none of these things. I fear it's just a joke suspended in mid-air, never destined for landing.
Please, Microsoft. Be offensive, if that is your bent. But make it funny. Make Cupertino hurt.
Put your back into it, will you?