By It’s Super Bowl week, folks, and you had to guess that – among the biggest carriers in the United States – Verizon and Motorola had something cooked up. They’ve chosen the Motorola XOOM, appropriately, and while they don’t show much of the tablet itself, they do a good job of getting the message across. The trailer is named “Goodbye 1984”, certainly a nod to Orwell’s classic novel about “draconian” futures as a way to say “this is an open tablet, this is a free tablet.” (Not free as in beer, though.)
2011 looks a lot like 1984. One authority. One design. One way to work.
It’s time for more choices. It’s time to explore. It’s time to live a free life.
Take a look above, and look forward to seeing this on your television as the Packers and the Steelers collide February 6th. [via Droid-Life]
Epic or Epic fail? I like the XOOM, but this ad is crap.
I really hope this isn’t the only commercial they have for the super bowl…
What’s even funnier is that apple played off of this against microsoft in a super bowl ad of their own in 1984!
Check out their ad here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
Also, moto doesn’t exactly have the best track record for supporting openness and freedom. I’m really interested to see where they go with the xoom, and how they treat the modding community.
Okay, so I know you may be too young to remember this, but Apple launched the original Mac with a _very_ well known commercial, called 1984, shown in 1984’s SuperBowl and directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Bladerunner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down etc).
The 1984 commercial was all about breaking IBM’s dominance in the PC, using Orwell’s 1984 as the theme.
Apple re-released the ad in 2004 updated for the iPod.
Motorola are clearly kicking Apple in the nuts and rightly holding them accountable for their prior commitment to being anti-control and anti-conformism. The whole ad is about being anti-Apple’s control of the tablet ecosystem…
More info on that original ad here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(advertisement)
Motorola = locked bootloader = 1984 = epic teaser fail.
XOOM XOOM
most people won’t have a clue what this is about when they see it, why didn’t they actually show the tablet?
ok, 99% of consumers are not gonna know what the hell there talking about. this video looks like it was made by a film student in 1984. and specs no one really cares about that, at least the non-geek consumers will
When Apple released the original Apple Mac in 1984, they created a well known commercial (called 1984) that aired during the Superbowl. The commercial was directed by Ridley Scott (Aliens, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down etc) and was themed around Orwell’s book of the same name.
It was a a clear attack on the control and conformity being exerted by IBM, the dominant market player at the time.
In 2004 they re-released the ad updated for the iPod.
Motorola are quite clearly pointing out (and making fun of) the fact that Apple is now the over controlling big brother figure that they have always tried to hard to position themselves against. Theirs is the closed, controlled eco-system, whereas Motorola’s is open in comparison…
1984 is a big part of Apple’s DNA. I think it’s funny that Motorola are calling them on it :-)
It’s a nod to Orwell’s book 1984, but I think it’s also referencing another famous ad that referred to the same book. In 1984, Apple ran a commercial introducing the world to the first Mac by inferring that Microsoft was “Big Brother”. Funny that now Apple is seen as “Big Brother”. You can see the 1984 commercial at the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
Hey, I figured I’d post this video too… I didn’t want to be left out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
I think its fitting that Motorola is calling Apple on this. Even though Motorola is anything but open with their products….
Ah, I’ve never known about that commercial. Good detective work, Watson(s)!
It sort of reminds me of the Death Star, but I love the reference to 1984 and the earth with the apple ear buds.
Didn’t show much of the tablet? How bout didn’t show ANY of the tablet. Booooo.
Aachha!! I see some of us decided to wear our smarty pants this morning.
Motorola is literally moronic if they are making this a Superbowl ad….
Hardly “epic”, or any other Internet-worthy adjective you want to use to describe such a lackluster, pointless ad.
Marketing for the masses should be the priority, not a bunch of nerdy phanboys who will be the ONLY ones who makes the comparison.
I do love the Xoom but the price is going to kill it. Latest news says the Ipad 2 will have a dual core processor and the dual core GPU that is 4X as powerful as the current one. That matches the Xoom’s processor and trumps the GPU. The new screen is likely to be matt which is better than the Xoom’s gloss but the 16/9 dimensions of the Xoom are far better than the 4/3 dimensions of the Ipad. Ipad 2 will also have LTE I am sure. That really puts the only superior features of the Xoom at microSD card slot,USB support, and Flash support. The Ipad 2 is scheduled to be 1/3 thinner also whick will make it thinner and most likely a little lighter than the Xoom. So, that is one counter to the three missing key features. Now, all three of these features are important to me but if Motorola doesn’t price the Xoom a little better I may just finally become an Apple fan after 30 years in the Commodore, Amiga, IBM, Windows court. Truely a sad day.
Uh, no one said this was going to be their primary Super Bowl ad. This is clearly just a teaser, released in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. There is NO doubt that Moto will leave nothing to chance if they’re dropping the big bucks on Super Bowl ad space. I’m quite sure that the Xoom will get its full and proper exposure during the game, without a doubt.
Please Motorola, leave the marketing to Verizon. Just rename the thing Droid Xoom and let the Verizon ad men go buck wild.
MOST people will have no idea what 1984 in this ad means. I just read the book this past year and didn’t make the connection. The ad should speak for itself, not rely on people remembering George Orwell and Apple’s reference to his writings.
They need to show the thing and highlight the specs that make it better than iPad.
I’d fire the idiot who made this ad and the idiot who signed it up the air.
Er, I’m pretty sure the 1984 reference is a nod and a dig at the famous Big Brother-themed commercial that Apple ran only once and is widely considered to be the one that broke it though into the public’s consciousness. It’s sort of surprising a tech blog like this didn’t get it. Or, to be fair, is it the author of this post that’s just sort of clueless?
They should have used the ad they had for CES where they rip on tablets through the years. I thought it was pretty witty, and funny. Super bowl ads are supposed to have some humor. I say drop this one and just replace the end of the CES one with coming feb 2011. Just my 2 cents…
I think it is silly to reference something that is so old. Most people won’t get it and will just be confused. If this is a superbowl ad, then their marketing them need to look in the mirror.
HTC Fan wrote on January 31, 2011
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Haha. Um…hehe? Seriously? “Something so old”?
1984 is a classic piece of literature…a ridiculous comment like yours would advocate no references to any of human history at all.
Don’t care much for the commercial. Looks kinda chintzy. Why didn’t Motorola stick with the Droid branding when creating this tablet? It would probably sell a lot better.
Crap commercial, people will be too lazy during that time to use google. They don’t even show a picture of the device.
Love all those history buffs. Even the writer of the article did not catch the reference to the Apple ad (against IBM, not MS), from 1984…
Droid Brand is owned by Verizon. Motorola is distancing themselves from that brand and creating their own identity now that Verizon will be pushing apples like Johny Appleseed.
oh Wait, that is another historic reference, my bad.
@joshai
I think you are deluded to think everyone reads sci-fi let alone Orwell and why should I?
I choose what I like to read and frankly I don’t care for Orwell, give me Le Guinn or Card.
New Technology, reference new things and maybe people will get it. (however, they probably weren’t targeting us when they made the ad (as people have mentioned apple))
I believe this is one of those ads that is pretty worthless by itself but that Motorola is betting will generate lots of FREE publicity for it and its new Xoom tablet because all the press commentators who will write about it, and note that it’s taking-off on Apple’s 1984 Superbowl ad (perhaps the most famous Superbowl ad ever!).
Just to reiterate — the “1984” reference here is not so much a direct reference to the great George Orwell book but rather to Apple’s own “1984” Superbowl ad (that Apple ad made Apple products seem like the force that was liberating the public from the 1984-ish “Big Brother” dominance of Microsoft/IBM/PC etc …. So now Motorola is turning the tables, saying Apple is the scary dominant force (iPhones, iTabs) which Motorola will topple …
they would never air this junk