14 DAY TRIAL // Who better to sell Windows Vista than LeBron James? At least this is Microsoft's vision, as the Redmond Company has contracted the basketball star to be at the center stage of the upcoming marketing push for Windows Vista. Microsoft's latest operating system is scheduled for consumer availability on January 30, 2007, both in the United States and around the world, along with the 2007 Microsoft Office System and Exchange Server 2007.
Microsoft hopes that LeBron James will be able to slam dunk Windows Vista. In this regard, one of the arguments that analysts have put forward to explain the slow adoption rate of Vista, in comparison to XP's market performance in the first month of availability, was the fact that Microsoft did not market the operating system following the availability via volume licensing.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard is the first professional basketball player to become involved in a Microsoft campaign. According to the Redmond juggernaut, LeBron James will be featured in TV commercials scheduled to debut by the end of January.
It remains to be seen if the NBA star will deliver the same magic to Windows Vista as he does to a basketball, but Microsoft is already considering expanding the agreement with LeBron. According to Microsoft, there is a possibility that LeBron will be used in the marketing of additional software products. So what's next? Windows Home Server? Windows Live? Longhorn?
The financial details of the agreement between Microsoft and LeBron have not been disclosed, but the NBA guard has an estimated $150 million worth of endorsement contracts.