Microsoft pranks with oFone, Apple rolls eyes
By Sean Cooper 
posted May 9th 2007 7:05AM
posted May 9th 2007 7:05AM
Seeing as the Zune was such a hit, Microsoft decided to repeat the success and tackle the iPhone before it even gets out the gate; friends, we give you the Microsoft oFone. Not to be outdone by Apple's multi-touch keyless interface, the oFone features not one or two, but three keyboards that can all pivot about the small central screen. Need to bag some wild game for dinner? No worries, oFone can do that too, simply extend the three arms (like in the pic above) and it apparently makes a decent boomerang. We're loving where they're going with this idea -- cool and unusable, just how we like our fake phones. Check the vid after the break. 
The 3-way pong scene was hysterical!
What is MS up to?
aaany way
I'm deeply concerned by Jared... He doesn't appear to be able to read. Even if he can't though, it's important that he should be able to work out from the video alone that this wasn't particularly serious...
Or, if you had taken your own advice and read Jared's comment properly, you may have actually noticed that he was asking if the video came out of Microsoft or if it's just the work of some bored geek. Not whether it is a real product. I don't think there was any doubt about that. The article states it fairly clearly.
Thanks Nick. That's exactly what I was asking. Flaming isn't necessarily bad, it's when the flame is given to those who don't know how to use it..
*grins*
"We're loving where they're going with this idea -- cool and unusable"
So I guess they nailed the iPhone.
Hmmm, maybe if M$ invested the same money and time in making real products as it does pathetic spoofs they'd create something worth having???
It's terrible but I'd still rather use an oPhone than Vista, at least it has novelty value.
Oh yea, those 'I am a mac' commercials are a hoot.
Do you apple zealots have jobs... Or lives? Seems there's a constant stream of you just waiting to bash MS at any given moment. Go get a job you apple loving hippies.
Nah, I joke. The ad was bloody halarious though, props to the guys behind this.
"Do you apple zealots have jobs... Or lives? Seems there's a constant stream of you just waiting to bash MS at any given moment. Go get a job you apple loving hippies."
And it also seems that there is a constant stream of apple bashing idiots that show up streaming shit at anything apple... seriously... everyone needs to fucking chill
I always love the emo comments by Mac addicts whenever there's a mention of Microsoft. Talk about short-man's disease.
It must be so very hard to walk around with that much angst.
Ok, this sounds sad, but I would actually buy one, haha. I like the boomerang feature, and think of the gaming abilities. wow, i cant even keep a straight face right now.
haha, classic :)
This is no joke. This is MS R & D at its finest. Apple, start your photocopiers.
This was funny. Did MS really make this? Because they really are telling the truth. They're shit at design. The Zune isn't a million miles from this.
Hardy, har, har....real funny!
Hang on crazy freakboys - Microsoft have had a successful mobile operating system for years. It wouldn't take much to rebadge one of those with a Microsoft logo. I believe they also do 3g.
Fanboys are silly.
This video is funny
you must have a funny definition for "successful"
unless you think it means "in existence" or "inconsequential"
Funny how no one gets upset at the Mac/PC Commercials, yet the minute Microsoft turns the tables and makes fun of them, you all have a fit.
The resentment to Microsoft's ( lame ) attempts at "viral marketing" comes from them trying to have it both ways.
Pick one Redmond - Either you are a light hearted company with funny viral ads and spoofs, who is ALSO light hearted about software licensing costs...
OR
...you are the evil monopoly willing to run small businesses into the ground in order to enforce your licensing costs. Cold hearted companies hold user's data hostage with proprietary closed formats in order to force paid upgrades, and they don't have any sense of humor.
You cannot have it both ways.
Yeah, no one ever complains about those Mac vs. PC commercials, especially on Engadget. Especially not Microsoft, and especially not Bill Gates, or Balmer, or anyone else for that matter. Everyone loves the Mac vs PC commercials! Wheeeeeee
I'm sorry - which parallel universe DID you say you came from?
PC people in general hate those ads and they do complain about them. Heck, I've even heard Mac people wince at them. I'm and Mac AND PC user and I hate them.
More to the point - you clearly missed that this fake ad parodies MICROSOFT, not Apple. It's like the infamous 'what would the marketing look like if Microsoft made the iPod' video that a bunch of people at Microsoft made up. It's hilarious, spot on and viciously attacks Micrsoft's own marketing practices.
If you want to be honest here - you should give props to Microsoft for having the guts to laugh at themselves. I doubt you'd see this kind of thing escape Apple... oh wait - I forgot - Apple never does anything wrong.
Yeah. Right.
I actually see a lot of potential. I'd buy one.
And 3-way pong looks uber.
I forgot that Apple wasn't a corporation. How stupid of me.
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072
read this. they aren't as money hungry as you'd think.
haha, that is hilarious! My favorite is still the one they did where everytime an error is reported the dev gets punished:)
The marketing jab about how they would spruce up the bland iPod box is much better.
"We'll fix that in the first ROM update."
Hilarious!
to answer people's question....YES, this was actually made by microsoft. They showed it about 2000 devs at MEDC last week. It was supposed to make a point of how the mobile market is changing so rapidly, so there is a great need to make our apps readily adaptable.
But yeah, they were definitely trying to make fun of the iPhone a bit too.
Um! Microsoft also made a 'prank' video on the iPod packaging and a few months later came out with the iPod inspired Zune package. Stay tuned for the iPhone inspired redesigned MS phone :)
- Microsoft redesigns iPod packaging -
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Microsoft+redesigns+iPod+packaging&search=Search
It's like a new (good-looking) kid entering school getting all the attention from the girls. The other kids who's been there for years will get jealous and poke fun.
Gotta give it to Microsh!t, at least they can poke fun at themselves…
This video is great, it's quite sad how the apple fanboys can't take a second from worshiping Jobs to appreciate a funny video. I'll admit, I'm kind of a Microsoft fanboy, and those Mac/PC ads that aren't blatant lies are quite funny.
And @Todd - Apple tries to have it both ways too. They try to be the "cool" and "hip" company of the people, while charging far too much for their products, which they only get away with because they have a monopoly on their hardware. If you want a mac you have to buy it from Apple. And can you imagine if Microsoft tried to bundle all the apps that Apple does with Windows? They got in trouble for bundling it with Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, they would get sued so fast if they tried to put in everything that Mac OSX came with.
Do you apple zealots have jobs... Or lives? Seems there's a constant stream of you just waiting to bash MS at any given moment.
--
Oh don't worry. We just have a 2% marketshare. I swear. ;)
I'm pretty sure the SPV sold pretty well in Europe over the last several years
I'm sure there are some devices that exist that use winCE (or whatever they're calling it now)
but MS's share of the cellphone OS market is a fraction of a percent. Even just their marketshare within smartphones (the only area they are competing) is in the single digits. as far as i know, it's still not turning a profit, as marketing and R&D costs outstrip their income.
so while something might "sell well" - i'm still not sure i'd call a fraction-of-a-percent marketshare and money losses a "success" - but that's just me.
So - you're telling us that this (video) was made by Microsoft? - your title would seem to say so.
If so, they've treated MS's shortcomings fairly bluntly, and i gotta commend them for that (though i would have assumed this was made outside of MS)
They do that all the time. The most recent example being a spoof of the iPod packaging wherein they made fun of ... themselves.
Why is it so hard to believe that a company can have a sense of humor about itself? They are probably more aware of their shortcomings than anyone else. Consider your perspective on your employer. Do you find things about your firm that are humorous? I should hope so.
I think Mac/PC commercials AND this are funny. Nothing wrong with healthy competition...and having fun with it.
Jeeze... half you people can't take a joke, can you?
no need for an iPhone killer -- it committed suicide the day it was announced.
the iPod packaging thing is the ONLY other example i know of, and it wasn't officially "attached" to MS's marketing department until weeks after it was on the web, and then when it came out that it was actually done by MS, it was official.
I didn't see anything crediting MS for this video, so i'm wondering if it really WAS done by MS like engadget is saying (IE: where does it credit MS?) or if it's just more bad writing my engadget that sounds like something but doesn't really mean it.
so, to repeat the question (and following comment): was this actually done by MS? if so, i commend them.
Instead of wasting their time on this crap how about you fix the xbox 360 fail rates and improve the zune a little???
Well, first of all I assume the same people who work on the
Zune & Xbox were not involved in the making of this video...
Sheesh. Microsoft has more employees than most towns in the U.S. have in population: Who cares if they had a little bit of fun making a video for one of their dev. conferences?
Hmm... it looks like a 'radioactive' sign...
"Check the vid after the break."
I wish this phrase would die. There is no break. It's the web. The author is an idiot.
HAHA, i love the M$ fans replying to this, they're hilarious!
Like M$ need defending for there actions and crap products
NOTE: I'm NOT an Apple fan either ( I prefer Linux and opensource stuff )
I'm no Micro$oft fan, so I don't know why you replied to my comment.
looks like the glaive…
Those of us who are cool and are not fanboys are so laughing at you are fanboys and are whining like babies.
Let me put it another way. We (the cool, not-fanboys) can't believe how much time you (the not-cool, fanboys) have to parade around with all your complaints.
Let me put it still another way. I barely have time to post this because being cool and not being a fanboy takes a lot of my time. You are not really important enough for me to laugh at.
Let me put it yet another way. I actually have a bot to post this for me because I am too cool for you fanboys. That bot is laughing at you as hard as it can.
Best design Microsoft has come up with in years.....maybe they should let the funny guys run the company.
You mean Micro$oft has a sense of humor?
I still think this is better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRLRjKCGHek
@warrenpeace,
Ever see the 'bug report' video? The one with Bill Gates & Napoleon Dynamite?
I'd have to say Microsoft is one of the largest companies out there who still likes to poke fun. It's all not suits & ladders!
It would be funny except for the fact that Microsoft applied for a Patent on a very similar device last January just a day or two after the iPhone was first announced. Microsoft was planning to make a phone like the one in the fake add.
That makes this extremely funny. Downright hilarious even. That is the crap Microsoft was going to use to take over the cell phone business. They were going to lift the Windows CE 0.4% market share up into the single digits with this design. ROTFLMFAO.
It's such a professionally done commercial... such a waste though... not like that commercial really points out flaws in the iPhone, nor is Microsoft coming out with a phone anytime soon. Why spend the money?
It was shown at Mix '07 and at least one poster here (on the first page no less) claims to have been there and seen it. So yep. Really from Microsoft.
that's pretty rad. I respect it MORE coming from MS.... it's easy to make fun of someone else, a bit harder to make fun of yourself (without trying to sneak in some lame back-patting)
:)
The 3 arms were necessitated by Microsoft's stringent adherence to the cutting edge design protocol known as CTRL/ALT/DELETE.
Users may opt to choose their chin or nose when pressing the 'ALT' button.
"Parody is a game. Satire, a lesson" -Oscar Wilde
Given their track record on design, this must qualify as 'parody'.
Yeah. Cuz it's still cool to say M$ and believe that Apple is the uncola.
Oh yeah, and Steve jobs is the image of man luv cool for the 21st century... and beyond!
Hahahaha. Mac lovers and MS haters kill me. Get over it. Apple is just another marketing spin machine like the rest...
Okay, so that was incredibly funny! It is also nice to see the apple fan boys make an appearance in the comments :). Those who know, use a PC (note, i didn't specify an OS??)
I am a huge apple fanboy, but even I can admit that was hilarious! WOW who would of thought Microsoft would do something not serious but funny! Picture me as a balerina, what does that convey? HILARIOUS!!!! Seriousy Props to microsoft! Funnier then the get a mac adds!
I so wish it was my job to burn money like that.
HAHA, i love the mac fans replying to this, they're hilarious!
like Todds talking about Microsoft running small businesses into the ground. HAHA you don't think mac does that? When was the last time Jobbs even donated any of his money?
I prefer the video with Bill Gates talking about all the wonderful features in Vista, whilst on the screen you see a Mac doing and having all those features already. Talk about playing catch up. Problem is Vista is slow bloated and badly written the hardware requirements make it a joke of desktop OS. Shame so few people of cleaver enough to see that and laugh at it.
It's also a shame the M$ finely design something new and different ( instead of just coping features from Mac OSX and Linux/Opensource Stuff ) and it's a done as a joke. I guess they only like ideas from other people that users are used to and can get already ( often free in opensource products ) before bothering to add them to their software. (see gadgets vs widgets, tabbed browsing, 3d effects in the desktop etc etc )
i like it...
Apple Fanboys??? In this thread.
Disliking Microsoft is not a trait reserved only for 'Apple Fanboys.' There are five "Lowest Ranked" comments in this thread that all knock Microsoft for wasting the time to develop this ad. Then, there are thirty "Highest Ranked" comments aimed at insulting those five commentors as being Apple Fanboys.
I don't understand how the seventh and eigth comments of a thread can be "I always love the emo comments by Mac addicts..." when there was no direct mention of Apple previous to that in any comments, and only one indirect mention of the iphone.
My thought is that word of this video spread through the Microsoft Development community like wildfire and, in droves, they flocked to this thread to loose their venom on any Microsoft detractor.
I have to agree with the people that think this video was a waste of time. Microsoft is at a juncture when the value of the products they produce is, at best, steady. They NEED to continue to add value, which is something they are truly having difficulty with. Microsoft is losing mindshare and it hurts. If I were a prospective employee interviewing with the company, this ad would turn me off. They have no sense of urgency.
Why do I see this ad, and not a TV ad featuring SideShow? That is a serious game-changing feature and you expect me to believe they don't have the power to leverage that? Microsoft have lost direction and discipline. If their current mindset continues, their balloon will lose all of its air.
As for Apple; it's said that they've made their share of mistakes, which is true. But can you truly beleaguer a company that has created and maintained the amount of buzz they have? They have been able to sell a product, inferior to competition, at a price, higher than the competition, that has made every CEO of every type of business green with envy. Now they are transferring that over to the iphone.
If you truly value your career, you would benefit greatly by observing and contrasting Apple's vs. Microsoft's choices.
Really, this is sort of making fun of Microsoft. They truly "don't get" what is cool. They don't start trends, the mimic them and jump on the bandwagon. They I hope the "success of the zune" comment was satirical as well.
hahaha way hilarious, also please visit http://www.serioushacker.com/ for other great stuff
OOH! LOOK AT ME! ISWITCH THE S IN MS WITH A DOLLAR SIGN! IT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER WHEN I DO THAT BECAUSE I KNOW I WILL NEVER MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS THEM AND WILL HAVE TO LIVE OUT MY PATHETIC LIFE LONLY AND POOR!
hah, to all the macboys crying that microsoft is "wasting time and money on shit like this" or "doesn't have a sense of humor", this is exactly the same as the mac-pc ads, if a bit friendlier. so if this is a stupid waste of time, so is justin long.
you gotta be kidding me?! who the hell wants a phone like that? and ms has the worst marketing skills.
Not the uncola, just coolah than M$. It's a lesser of two evils, like Republicans and Democrats. Yeah, I'm non-party affiliated, but I still have to choose who will really win versus who should win.
Haha, it seems half the comments are people putting down apple fanatics. I don't really see any pro-apple comments anyways. So here's one: Keep up the good work, Apple.
Hahaha, awesome video. I actually kind of like that thing...
haha, that is hilarious!