NFL Commentators Still Calling Microsoft's Surface Tablets "iPads"

AmiMoJo writes: Back in 2013, Microsoft inked a $400 million deal with the NFL to promote the Surface. Unfortunately for Microsoft, commentators and even players couldn't help themselves from referring to the tablets as iPads. Last year, announcers referred to the Surface as an "iPad-like tablet,", while Chicago Bears quarterback called them "knockoff iPads". It happened on more than one occasion, and while you can bet that Microsoft and the NFL have been in talks with announcers and players about the goof, little progress is being made. This year, the problem persists.

Comments

That's okay.

[buckfeta2014]

My mother still calls a PC tower a modem...

Re:That's okay.

[Dusthead Jr.]

My former boss used to refer to it as a hard drive and the CRT monitor was the computer. I upgraded it to a larger size and he asked if I had gotten a new computer. Most people I know seem to call any generic mp3 player an iPod. And before Android became a household name, every smartphone was an iPhone.

Derp.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a tablet.

Tablets were introduced to people living outside their parents' basements as 'iPads'. Apple. Has. Won.

Now let me hand you some Kleenex so you can wipe away those tears. By Kleenex, I mean generic store-brand paper-based facial tissues.

Other brand names that Americans use ...

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to be mostly an American thing to call things by brand or company names instead of using generic terms...
Jacuzzi - hot tub
Crock pot - pressure cooker
Chapstick - lip balm
Kleenex - tissue
Q-tips - cotton swabs
Rollerblades - roller skates
Scotch tape - adhesive tape
Sharpie - permanent marker
Realtor - real estate agent
Tupperware - plastic containers
Weed eater - string trimmer
Wite-out - correction fluid
Band-Aid - adhesive bandages
Dumpster - waste container
Xerox - photocopier
Post-it - sticky note
Plexiglas - acrylic glass
Styrofoam - polystyrene
etc etc etc....

Re:Other brand names that Americans use ...

[Zontar The Mindless]

A crock pot is not a pressure cooker. (Try "slow cooker".)

And my wife calls them Tupperware. She's from China, has never lived in an English-speaking country, and only made her first visit to the US about 4 years ago.

Here in Sweden, I hear the terms "rollerblade"; "Xerox", "Post-It", and "Plexiglass" used even in Swedish.

Rollerblades, BTW, are specifically *inline* skates, not any roller skates.

And nobody's had a need for White-Out in about 30 years; do they even still make that stuff?

Re:The Surface should be easily distinguishable

[mark-t]

Point 4 is entirely untrue.

On point 7, that your Grandma may find the iPad harder to use the Surface is anecdotal evidence for your proposition. It remains that the underlying argument that the Surface is easier to use than the iPad is entirely subjective.

I will not contest the other points, however.

But really, putting something that can be quite objectively shown to be false in your itemized list of differences really negatively impacts your overall argument. You could have left point 4 out and just listed six points and your argument would have been much stronger than how you presented it.