All the blogs are abuzz with the continuing saga that is Apple and Microsoft. Everyone has seen the new Microsoft ads where a couple goes into a computer store, and looks for a computer. In the process, they inevitably pass by a Apple computer and say the obvious, “Sexy, but much too expensive for my budget.” To some this would be a true statement, while Apple Fanboys would completely disagree. The extra money you spend on a Mac is for peace of mind in knowing that you own a reliable, trendy and media-centric piece of technology.

To Microsoft’s defense, the commercials started before WWDC; where Apple not only upgraded the entire MacBook Pro line-up, but also decreased the entry price for Apple notebooks. Since then, Apple’s Legal Department as requested that Microsoft stop using those ads with a statement that probably sounded a lot like this, “Your ads are not taking into account the pricing changes we’ve made.” Here is the statement [Link to Transcript] making headlines around the blogosphere:

And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

I do not see the wrong here. Why shouldn’t Apple ask Microsoft to stop airing their misleading advertisements? Isn’t that what any company would do if something was being said that was misleading or untrue?

Update: I am sorry for not adding this to the post. It was definitely essential to the argument I was trying to make. The statement, “They took like $100 off or something,” is not entirely true. A couple of things have changed since WWDC. The MacBook Pros (essentially the Mac line-up) now all come standard with 4GB of RAM, which cancels out the ad “Laptop Hunters $1500 – Giampaolo gets an HP HDX.” The entry level price for a 15″ MacBook Pro went down from $1999 to $1699, MacBook Air went from $1799 to $1499 (The SSD Model got a $700 price drop to $1799). With spec upgrades and prices dropped way more than $100 across the board, who wouldn’t want misleading advertisements taken off of the air – I know I would. I don’t know if it is the same where you are, but Microsoft has since stopped airing all of their  Laptop Hunter Ads except for a $700 ad, which I can’t seem to find the link for. Feel free to sound off in the comments!