I find the ad dangerous for exactly the opposite reason: it's like MS is promoting a phone that you won't enjoy using too much, so you want to spend as little time on it as possible. This aligns fairly well with my experience with Office and Windows products.
This is exactly what I was thinking. With these commercials, Microsoft isn't pandering to the "techie" crowd. They're trying to market their product to normal people. I think the simple fact that it's a cool, modern smartphone means that, for the tech crowd, it will essentially sell itself. The tech crowd doesn't need to be marketed to. They'll pick up anything that's new.
They did the same thing when marketing Windows 7 with the whole "my idea" campaign, and I think it will work with the phone too.
Integration with Xbox Live kicks the crap out of the iPhone and Android.
The user interface is pretty good and innovative. At least you can't accuse them of ripping Apple off.
Overall I think it's a pretty good phone offering. Personally I'm a happy iPhone user and I don't see myself switching anytime soon but I don't think spreading FUD is being intellectually honest.
This makes it sound like it is competing more against the PSP than iPhone or Android. I have maybe 3 games on my iPhone/iPad combined (well more, but those are for my child) because I didn't get either of these devices to game on.
EDIT: So I take it someone disagrees that Windows 7 is differentiating themselves by being more a gaming platform and thus competing closer to a PSP type device (e.g. a device that is primarily for games) than a smart phone?
Microsoft's marketing people must have sat around a table and pondered what features they could possibly promote about Windows Phone 7.
They couldn't really promote its use for office work, as then people would realize that the phone can't copy-paste text, making it unsuitable for the task.
They can't promote apps, as it is dwarfed by Android and iPhone (where did those Angry Birds go?).
So the marketing people chose to promote the default front screen with its blue tiles as Windows Phone 7's best feature.
Running a negative campaign like this can be risky. You see people frustrated with their phones, you see the Windows Phone 7 logo, and you subconsciously combine the two.
You see someone throw their phone into a toilet. You see the Windows Phone 7 logo, and combine to two events together.
I don't envy the ad agency that took on this unenviable job. It's a bit like taking on the ad campaign to promote New Coke.