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Marketing Failure: Microsoft Pays NFL To Use Its Surface Tablets -- And People Still Call Them 'iPad-Like Tools'

from the didn't-get-the-memo dept

Mon, Sep 8th 2014 3:48pm — Mike Masnick

Over at The Verge, Vlad Savov has an amusing post about how NFL announcers this weekend referred to the sideline tablets that players are using as "iPad-like tools." Microsoft Surface tablets are being allowed on the sidelines as part of a $400 million deal between Microsoft and the NFL. And Microsoft is promoting the Surface as "the official tablet of the NFL." And, in the end, all anyone remembers is that it's an "iPad-like tool." I wonder if the guy who signed that deal for Microsoft has lined up a new job yet...

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Filed Under: football, ipad, marketing, surface, tablets
Companies: microsoft, nfl

26 Comments

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Roger Strong (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 3:56pm

Or as those outside of North America would call it, "an iPad-like tool for a football-like sport."
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Trevor, 8 Sep 2014 @ 4:06pm

I bet he gets a 2 game suspension.
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Angel (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 4:11pm

Re:
Is it really like football though, I think they should call it hand ball...lol.
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PRMan, 8 Sep 2014 @ 4:20pm

Re:
A football-like (but less boring and where scoring is legal) sport.
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That One Guy (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 4:25pm

Re: Re:
I always liked the term 'hand-egg', seems to describe the sport fairly well. You've got an egg shaped 'ball', and most of the time it's carried in someone's hand, hence 'hand-egg'.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 4:35pm

Re: Re:
It's like Rugby with padding and commercial breaks.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 5:09pm

Re: Re: Re:
I only watch for the commercials, if I wanted to see a bunch of tough guys pound on each other, toss around balls and pile up I get on the internet and watch gay porn.
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bshock, 8 Sep 2014 @ 6:12pm

Today's lesson in marketing
When you bribe someone to show off your product to the public, always make sure you bribe everyone facing the public.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 6:58pm

Isn't Apple gGoing to Sue to Protect its Trademark?
What we have here is someone using "iPad" as a generic term for any tablet-like device. Apple's trademark is being diluted. They should sue Microsoft, the NFL, and the offending TV network to protect their trademark.

Thus following the most famous makers of facial tissues, hardboard and expanded polystyrene foam in making a big fuss about their trademark, ensuring sure that consumers know that there are other options when trying to purchase said products.
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Sep 2014 @ 7:30pm

The announcer is John Lynch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lynch_(American_football)

Microsoft paid the NFL a lot of money, but the Verge claims that the networks themselves aren't being paid by Microsoft. That isn't true. Microsoft has been buying heavy advertising on NFL games for the last few years. Looks like Fox didn't bother to clue their announcers in on what the sponsors were paying for.
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Andrew Norton (profile), 8 Sep 2014 @ 9:26pm

Re: Re: Re:
I've called it pu...-errr *baby* Rugby for years, even in front of players. Funny thing is, the players admit it, the fans are the ones that get upset by it.
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Andyroo, 9 Sep 2014 @ 1:40am

Oh Oh!!!
Is ipad becoming a generic term for a tablet pc, if so I am sure apple is not going to be very happy about that as the ipad name is something they cherish very much, even now my kids call their cheap table an ipad when they are mentioning it to anyone, not becasue they want people to think they have an ipad they are way too young for that.
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michaelb958 (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 1:43am

This is my life with a Surface!
I'm stuck with a Surface RT (don't laugh: needed a tablet, wanted something with intelligence, Surface 1 Pro wasn't out yet...). This is basically what continually happens to me. Every Single Time someone sees it for the first time, they call it an iPad. *sigh* (Disclaimer: I'm not an Apple fan.)
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Ninja (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 3:22am

Re:
This is almost too easy!

The gadget is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike an iPad!

The sport is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike football!

I tell you, Adams was a genius!
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Ninja (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 3:24am

Re: This is my life with a Surface!
I think the iPad is overrated nowadays. I've seen computers that turn into tablets running windows and they are far more useful than the iPad. The RT thing was an idiocy, they should have gone Windows 8 from the start.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Sep 2014 @ 4:37am

ITS like 10 years ago some adults would call every console, nintendo,
eg do you play on the nintendo,
even it was a sega or a dreamcast console,
as nintendo was the most famous console maker.

everyone knows what a ipad is.
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victorvscn (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 4:41am

Who, in the entire universe, would prefer to say "iPad-like tool" rather than "tablet"? I call BS.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Sep 2014 @ 6:17am

iPad loses its Trademark status
I see this as Apple losing any trademark for iPad (yeah!), much like Kleenex and Xerox are now common words in our vernacular which no longer refer to their specific companies but to the generic idea.
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Roger Strong (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 6:43am

Re: iPad loses its Trademark status
Don't count on it. It can even go in the opposite direction.

For example I picked up a US Robotics Pilot when they first came out. This was my *third* hand-held computer. The class of computers were already known as "palm-tops" by this point.

Put the Pilot had a stylus, and that was enough for the makers of Pilot pens to sue them. So the Pilot was renamed the "Palm Pilot", and then the "Palm." And the company started suing anyone who called their palm-tops "palm-tops." And they took ownership of the word "palm."
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Simon, 9 Sep 2014 @ 6:54am

Re: Re: This is my life with a Surface!
The iPad market matured amazingly quickly. I still see people happily using iPad 2's with no urge to upgrade. Personally when I gave my iPad back to my employer after quitting my job, I saw no reason to buy another.

The phone upgrade cycle is faster, but that is slowing down too now as there are less and less benefits to upgrading to the latest and greatest.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Sep 2014 @ 7:06am

Wonder if MS contracted with ESPN/ABC/other broadcasters?
Probably what happened is MS contracted with the NFL but didn't get the broadcasters on board. So as long as the NFL refers to it properly, no breach of contract but maybe they can't do anything to the announcers.
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nasch (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 7:39am

Re: Isn't Apple gGoing to Sue to Protect its Trademark?
What we have here is someone using "iPad" as a generic term for any tablet-like device.

No, they're comparing another product to an iPad. If they said "they're using ipads" or "they have Microsoft ipads" while knowing that the devices are not Apple iPads, that would be using it as a generic term. What they said is "iPad-like tools".
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nasch (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 7:41am

Re:
Microsoft paid the NFL a lot of money, but the Verge claims that the networks themselves aren't being paid by Microsoft. That isn't true. Microsoft has been buying heavy advertising on NFL games for the last few years.

They're not being paid to have their announcers promote the Surface. Buying ads doesn't automatically buy you the announcers.
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nasch (profile), 9 Sep 2014 @ 7:42am

Re:
Who, in the entire universe, would prefer to say "iPad-like tool" rather than "tablet"?

A football player.
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Dan T., 9 Sep 2014 @ 9:09am

Re: Re: iPad loses its Trademark status
Do they own Palm Beach County too?
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Sep 2014 @ 1:56pm

Re: Re:
Look up the history of "football". It meant a game played on foot with a ball, as opposed to something played on horseback. The use of hands or not doesn't matter.
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