Apple’s iPad is almost as synonymous with tablets as Google is with search engines; chances are that if you show a not-very-tech-savvy friend/family member of yours a Surface tablet, they’ll think it’s an iPad instead. It turns out this is exactly the same problem that NFL presenters are having.
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Microsoft paid out $400 million to the NFL in order for the league to use Surface tablets whilst on-air, branding the Surface as the “official tablet of the NFL.” Unfortunately, it seems that the memo hasn’t made its way to many presenters, including ESPN’s Trent Dilfer who, on Monday Night Football no less, commented upon the length of time it had taken Cardinals assistant head coach Tom Moore to “learn how to use the iPad to scroll through the pictures.”
Fox’s John Lynch would also later mistake the Surface for an iPad, and though he eventually corrected his mistake, he still failed to mention the Surface by name or explicitly state that the Surface was being used by the coaches on the field to highlight plays.
Microsoft likely won’t be happy that its investment is essentially working out as an advertisement for the iPad, even though the Surface logo is now omnipresent during NFL games. Hopefully the network hosts eventually get it right, and save MS any further embarrassment.
