apple preaches to the unconverted

You probably caught the headlines, as Apple uses former Windows users in testimonial ads where they describe how they felt once they switched to Mac.

Created by "the thin blue line" director, this story headlines in NYT and various puter geared online news sources.

t is also running print and television advertisements with the switch theme, featuring people from various walks of life -- a writer, a publisher, a programmer, a Windows network administrator -- talking about their jump from the world of Windows to the Macintosh.

The ads, shot simply on an unadorned white background, were directed by Errol Morris, a documentary director and producer, and created by the Playa del Rey, Calif., office of the Apple agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group.

''To me, Apple's switch campaign makes no sense without the stores,'' said Charles R. Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company. ''And the failure of the campaign is that Apple does not have stores in all 100 of the nation's metropolitan areas.''

More than 100,000 people are visiting the existing Apple stores each week, and more than half of them are not Mac users, according to Mr. Jobs. Since last month, when Apple began its print and television ad campaign, featuring ordinary people who switched from Windows machines, Apple's switch Web site has had more than 1.7 million unique visitors, 60 percent of them tapping in with Windows machines.

In one commercial, a man describes his Windows PC era as "being stuck in an unhealthy relationship". Apple wants you to switch lovers.

Is this the campaign that will convince those pesky PC users? ;-)