Someone at Microsoft Must Be Smiling Over Apple Ad

Very Subtle, but People Get Canned For Things Like This

Now that Apple has unleashed the next generation of iPhones, we won't be seeing two of the best commercials of the year, which were devoted to the iPhone 5. They are tender, compelling and eminently watchable for repeated viewing. The first one tells us in an oh-so-subtle way that you are one with the world if you use iTunes to listen to music on your phone. And you feel real good about that decision after seeing this spot:

More recently, I had been coming across the second spot, which is even better and displays the virtues of Face Time. You see people all over the world interacting with the video chat service in a myriad of ways, some funny, others touching and, for one, a little sad.

There's an excellent chance you've seen the one-minute ad, one of the few you might even rewind the DVR to see. But a couple of days ago I got close enough to the TV to notice a tiny detail in one scene 45 seconds in that might irk a dweeb or two in Apple's marketing machine.
It shows a couple relaxing in an airport boarding area laughing over something on their phone. The logo on the chairs they're sitting on is for Alaska Airlines, whose hub is in Seattle. Which just happens to be very close to Redmond, home of Microsoft.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that maybe I'm getting a little too granular here, even for the folks in Cupertino. But somebody has to obsess about things like this, even for spots that will be relegated to YouTube and Clio Awards clip reels. Thought I'd start the ball rolling.