Google took a serious swipe at Apple and Microsoft in its new Chromebook ad

Chromebook

Google/YouTube

• Google took a swipe at Apple and Microsoft in its new Chromebook commercial.

• In a sign of Google's confidence in its Chromebooks, the company mocked the load times and error messages of its rivals.

• Chromebook sales in the US grew 70% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Google. 

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Google has started hawking its new Chromebooks — and it couldn't resist a dig at Apple and Microsoft.

In a sign of its confidence in its Chromebooks, which remain a relative upstart in the face of Apple and Microsoft's decades of dominance in the personal-computer market, Google characterized its rivals as error-prone in an ad.

The minute-long commercial, set to playful classical music, mocks Apple's spinning beach ball and Microsoft's hourglass icons and asks if viewers are "over" the companies' computer-error messages.

Chromebook ad

Google/YouTube

It then bombards the screen with error messages that PC and Mac users will be well accustomed with, before cutting to a clean shot of a Google Pixelbook and showcasing its features.

It's not unusual for tech manufacturers to poke fun at their competitors in ads. Samsung notably did so with iPhone users and the notch at the top of the iPhone X in a campaign last year.

But The Verge said this was the first time Google had taken a "clear shot" at Windows and Mac laptops. Chromebook sales in the US grew 70% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Google, and the laptops have been popular with schools there.

Such is the success of Chromebook that it was reported last year that Microsoft was working on a product to mimic the ultra-cheap laptop.

Here's the full ad:

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