Funk trumps functionality

The Windows 7 advertising campaign, which focuses around cool 'PC' people with great ideas, just looks lame. Only nerds, keen to job Jobs, could think it's clever. It's clearly meant to be a counter to Apple's punishing attack on the uncool, nerdy 'PC' a couple of years ago, but all it does is highlight a lack of ideas in the creative department and a company that just hasn't moved on from that onslaught. It does nothing to convince me that Windows is capable of making the vital leap from functionality to funk, which I think is what it's trying to do.

Apple has a cult following and it's growing rapidly. Four weeks out from Christmas, The Apple Centre in our local shopping mall was packed last Sunday with people standing two and three deep around display counters. The machines looked cool - organic designs tempting you to touch and play. Yes, sexy is the word that comes to mind. They're more expensive, but you're paying for a membership, not just a product.

My daughter turbo-propelled herself into the Apple shop, but displayed only lukewarm interest in Supre, Cotton On and other regular tween fashion haunts. You see, more than most, Apple has commandeered everything that counts to Gen Z and Gen Y - mobility, accessibility and street cred. Think MacBook, iPod, iTouch and iPhone and you get the picture. My daughter could walk around the shopping centre with a MacBook under her arm radiating her chic consumer savvy, even if it didn't work. That's funk.