Celebs take their pick between Macs, PCs

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Celebrities: Macs Vs. PCs
Forbes
By Chiang Oliver

SAN FRANCISCO - If celebrities are the cultural arbiters of what's cool and what isn't, then Macs are definitely "in" these days. Many celebs have professed a love for all things Apple--or have been spotted with tech toys that found their start in the creative brain of Steve Jobs.

The Mac pack includes successful young stars like the Jonas Brothers. The pop boy band members recently told Forbes about their admiration for Apple. "Apple seems to be doing a pretty good job," says Kevin Jonas, who adds that the company is on the "forefront" of technology.

Country star Taylor Swift is also a Mac aficionado. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter was spotted with a MacBook in her lap in a behind-the-scenes video from Dateline NBC while on tour last year.

Some celebrities are unabashed in their love for Apple products. Comedian Chris Rock told People in April that he was an avid Mac user. "If they had water, I would drink the Mac water," said Rock. "Steve Jobs can eat at my house anytime."

Consumer product companies have always known that, however tenuous the connection, a beautiful woman featured with a product almost always translates into increased sales. Usually companies have to pay for that kind of endorsement. But with Apple's cachet, a number of sexy celebrities have flocked to the company's side, free of charge.

Marisa Miller, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover model, told Forbes about her love for Apple products. "I feel like I'm so connected to my iPhone," Miller says. "I love iChat. ... That's just a great way to keep in touch with people." Angelina Jolie, named by People magazine as the world's most beautiful woman in 2006, was also spotted at an Apple store earlier this year, reportedly to buy an iPod Touch for her oldest son, Maddox.

Microsoft has its champions, too. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld starred in a series of commercials a couple of years ago with Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates to promote the PC. The humor was off-kilter, but Seinfeld and Gates' on-screen chemistry was undeniable.

A few celebrities also had cameos in Microsoft's "I'm a PC" ads--an answer to Apple's popular "Get a Mac" ad campaign, which poked fun at PC users. Famous folks like Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker and alternative medicine man Deepak Chopra looked out at us from the screen, proclaiming: "I'm a PC."

As shocking as it sounds, you can't trust everything you see on TV. Rapper and music producer Pharrell Williams made an appearance on the Microsoft "I'm a PC" ad, but has also been spotted with his famous solid gold iPhone. And Rapper Jay-Z was the face--er hands--of Hewlett-Packard's line of notebooks in a 2006 ad campaign. But he and his pop-star wife B�yonc� were more recently photographed typing away at MacBooks.

The vox popular has spoken, and it's voting for Mac.

Follow Oliver Chiang on Twitter or e-mail him at ochiang@forbes.com.

source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/forbes/2010071 ... a1c1a.html