I guess I don't view Justin Long as hip and cool. Just average. The everyman.

The subtlety of the Get A Mac ads coupled with the overt parody and individual themes is what makes those ads work IMO. That doesn't make them pretentious, it makes them clever. Contrast this to MS's commercials, the "I'm a PC" which are anything but clever. It's just an obvious example that they simply don't understand the Mac ads nor why they work. MS did finally put together a good ad. The best I've seen in a long time from them, and a really good ad compared to the industry at large. I'm talking about the one of the kid putting together a movie and then playing it back on the family TV.

Anyway, I didn't mean to take this topic off the device itself, I was just making an observation that the Pre's sole commercial was a little lifestyle-heavy and just the type of material-goods make you a better person drivel that many critics would normally hammer with other companies. It may already be getting this type of attention, but I just haven't been around the web the past couple of days to check.

The morsels of Pre UI and device in the commercial are insignificant compared to the rolling landscape and crane shots of the synchronized performers. The usage shots are exactly what this type of device should have in a commercial. However, they aren't strong enough to differentiate the product from so many others. In the end, it's back to what I've said about the Pre, that it's not a significant step forward in any meaningful way. It doesn't do anything to alter the product category and that's likely why the ad agency had to rely on pretentiously pulling those emotional strings.

Hey, I'm ok at being the sole voice of dissension. While I love pulling for the underdog, Palm was not always the underdog. They were a big player, perhaps the 800 lbs Gorilla in the handheld space, that simply didn't innovate and eventually got clobbered.

I don't think that the Pre won't be a wonderful device for some people. I just think it's not very significant in the grand scheme of things and it's not going to be the device to strongly compete against the big players currently in the game. This is probably the main point I have that contradicts those of so many others that are vaulting the status of this product primarily to vilify Apple and Microsoft. They're just bloody handhelds, and this isn't the one that's going to solve world hunger and cure its diseases.