Motorola Just Threw Shade At Apple Inc. in a New Commercial (AAPL)
Attention, Apple Inc. (ticker: AAPL): Motorola is coming for your customers.
If it wasn't clear before that there's a hefty amount of competition in the smartphone market (it was), Motorola's latest commercial leaves little room for confusion.
The company's new campaign -- dubbed Skip the Sevens -- features Apple loyalists (which the company says aren't actors) being told about a new prototype. The catch? They didn't know the product was one of Motorola's.
The phone in question (a Moto Z smartphone) has interchangeable backs (Moto Mods), including a power pack with up to 22 hours of extra battery life, a snap-on speaker and a projector.
They improved their black rectangles.
We reimagined ours: https://t.co/FPf8rhgxIc #skipthesevens #motomods pic.twitter.com/w8lSv2yZED
-- Lenovo United States (@lenovoUS)
The aggressive approach from Motorola makes sense, considering "the cult of Apple" exists, as Mashable calls it. A Motorola blog post emphasizes the company's belief that "different is better."
Could Motorola's campaign move attention its direction? If the iPhone 7 presale numbers from Sprint Corp. (S) and T-Moblie US (TMUS) are any indication, it's clear Apple is still just as formidable an opponent as ever.
Of course, #skipthesevens has already garnered attention on Twitter (including photos of a print ad).
This Motorola Ad is like Meek Mill dissing Drake out of nowhere #skipthesevens pic.twitter.com/HEkAL5dPeP
-- Litha Sokutu (@RagerVin)
Oh lord do I love the #skipthesevens campaign. Almost as much as my @Moto_USA #motoZ with @JBLaudio and @Tumitravel #MotoMods , it's genius.
-- Nic DiBella (@NicDiBella)
This is how you break a trend #skipthesevens https://t.co/l1A7mZ5WPM
-- Jhonz Talk (@jhonztalk)
Impressionable people are easy impressed by impressive new phone#skipthesevens
https://t.co/qq1FPomAFd
-- Brian Wernham (@BrianUkulele)
Apple stock is up about 9.4 percent on the year.
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David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com.
