First Windows Phone 7 Ad From Microsoft

Not bad. Entertaining, and, for me at least, it hits home.

But it’s more of an indictment of our “eyes on the phone, all the time” culture than an endorsement of Windows Phone 7. How exactly does Windows Phone 7 solve this? And do iPhone / Android / BlackBerry addicts really see this as a problem that needs to be solved? I feel like I spend so much time on my iPhone not because it’s inefficient, but because it’s so good. I’m never more than a few seconds away from something at least somewhat engaging.

I.e., Microsoft’s premise here is that WP7 has a dashboard and system-wide interface that’s optimized for getting you through a finite amount of “checking in” or “catching up” in significantly less time than other mobile systems. But I don’t think people are on their iPhones / Androids / BlackBerrys all the time because of inefficient UI design. I think it’s because we want to be on them. These devices are where our minds are drawn — like moths to a flame, perhaps — whenever we’re otherwise unoccupied.

But: perhaps this message from Microsoft isn’t targeted at existing smartphone owners. It’s for those shopping for the first smartphone, who, because they don’t have one yet, see existing smartphones as something unpleasant — gadgets that turn friends and family into anti-social heads-down faces-underlit jerks. I can see how that message might work.

Update, 19 April 2013: The original story linked above is now a 404. Fireballed.org has a cache, but the embedded YouTube videos are now marked private. Here’s a YouTube link that works for the “Season of the Witch” spot.

★ Monday, 11 October 2010