Microsoft Surface and Lumia 920 show up in Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” mini-series

By Daniel Rubino
published

It’s been awhile since we’ve covered some obvious product-placement shots and this time, it’s not too different as US broadcaster CBS is once again at the forefront. The show, or rather mini-series, is Stephen King’s adaptation of “Under the Dome”, which has a group of people suddenly cut off from the rest of the world as a literal invisible dome suddenly surrounds their town.

The show is classified as sci-fi/horror and we just finished watching part 3 last night. Truth be told, it’s been pretty great so far and if you have Amazon Prime, you can watch it on there for free (we recommend it).

Under the Dome Microsoft product placement

In part three, which aired the other night, Microsoft clearly got under the dome as a few products suddenly showed up in the town, mostly in the youth’s hands. We saw two Nokia Lumia 920s (one white, one red) and even a few Microsoft Surfaces being used by the teens in the scene where they all use a generator to re-charge their devices. The best is probably seeing the Surface being swiped back and forth on the Start screen, which is just kind of fun.

Under the Dome Microsoft product placement

Does this kind of hidden ad-placement really help? We don’t have the data but we imagine it’s about getting people to recognize your iconic brand and with Microsoft’s brightly colored devices and bold Modern UI, it’s not too hard to stand out.

Either way, it’s kind of fun to see.

Thanks, Ronaldo and Jason, for the tips!

Under the Dome Microsoft product placement

Under the Dome Microsoft product placement

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

50 Comments
  • Hate to admit it, but I like this show.
    (Shields up vs "You should read the book!" comments).
  • Guess I'm guilty too as I watches my DVR'd episode last night
  • Nothing to apologize for. King in his latter novels has become a bit bloated.
  • The book is good, I think. I'm interested to see how they will handle the ending, especially with Big Jim. I doubt they'll keep it the same, especially after what they've turned Barbie into.
  • I read the book and I thought the TV show was better at first.  Now it seems to be slowing down and getting kind of weak.
  • LoL, I paused it both times to point them out to the Mrs. ;-)
  • Seems like CBS is a big time promoter of the MS/Nokia products. Between this one, NCIS/NCIS:LA, Hawaii Five-O and Elementary, I've seen lots of Surfaces and Lumias.
  • It extends to their CW Network too. On all their shows too. Fun to see the Felicity, the computer expert on Arrow, use her touch screen Surface Pro to take over lesser computer systems.
  • I've even seen the on the TV show Arrow
  • Hopefully Big Bang Theory & Person of Interest are next to show off MSFT & Nokia
  • No way, Sheldon uses multiple os's so yea... What ever bout the others that'd be a bit naff...
  • I would love to see smelly shelly with a 920 or surface!
  • With Nokia refusing to give us color on our high end devices lately WP won't stand out in advertisements as much in the future... Out of three high end devices we've only see one with one color❔... That's a huge step back... Why does it seem like everything that WP has, that separates it from the rest, always disappears❔
  • Blame the carriers... they still don't have faith in the platform, so they're not ordering as much. And what they do order has to appeal to the largest crowd. Nevermind if they actually promoted the color choices that they would actually sell more.
  • That's probably the reason right there.. You're right...
    Color is what makes things stand out❕... This is what people want, especially in this time period where colorful clothing, shoes, cars, and a lot of other products are in style.. This should be taken advantage of to help WP differentiate itself.. Those Beats Audio headphones are the perfect example.. I see kids with those things in crazy colors... The 1020 needs to be offered in red, and cyan, period point blank❕❗❕❗
  • Not everyone wants a blaring color on their phone. Two out of three shots above show a white 920. In Man of Steel they used black 900s and 920s for almost every shot. A yellow phone (especially one that a character will be carrying around for an entire movie or television series) is a wardrobe manager's worst nightmare. So let's just be happy that these devices are getting some love, yes?
  • No❕.. That's called settling.. You're right, not everyone wants colors, but a lot of people do.. And, in order for us to get our colors we need to speak up.. Believe it or not WPC is a great place to make request because people from MS/Nokia do read these comment sections.. Telling people to just settle, and be happy, with whatever they throw at us is the worst advice you can give.. That doesn't help WP move forward in any way.. If you aren't interested in a colorful phone then this most likely doesn't apply to you, but don't be one of those who stand in the way of what others want.. If I say I want a red 1020, then I want a red 1020.. Why would you try to convince a grown man not to want something he's obviously interested in❔.. It's my money, not yours.
  • I think Cyan would look great on the big screen, it's a lovely color imo
  • Yes, gray and black phones are boooooooooooorrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiing
  • Great story...horrible acting. Who ever wrote the dialog should be shot.
  • Lol :P
  • That laptop behind the Surface is an XPS 13/14/15, but the Dell logo is covered for some reason. Shame... Probably one of the nicest Windows notebooks out there.
  • The book was a great read
  • Good story, acting and music score are awful and cheesy
  • I don't know if you guys covered it but Caroline in vampire diaries started using a white 920 in the last season.
  • You lost me at "vampire"
  • Ya but warez mi WP Xbox game
  • Styles in Mtv's Teen Wolf is using a cyan L920.
  •  Yep, and Scott a GS4! Love the part when Styles was spamming with messages the guy on the bus.  
  • I think having these product placements helps.  There is a large audience of people that don't even know about WP.  So even a glimpse here and there helps the next time they are in the phone store.   WP will not seem/feel so foreign.
  • I agree. My pet theory on advertising is that increased product awareness leads to familiarity which leads to trust. Even if you've never hear about it, your trust increases when you keep hearing about it.
  • I'm just finishing the 3rd episode and saw this post. Keep it up MS
  • I didn't think there was cellphone service in the show because of the dome, I missed the last episode.
  • There wasn't cell phone service. They were using them for the music because they didn't like the radio station.
  • I think Smirnoff like windows check out this video and let me know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eNSQrlbWnI
  • There is no doubt that companies all think product placement helps. Just look at The Office. In all of the early years, the computers on all of the desks were HPs. Apple must have hated that and was able to get an ever increasing number of Macs onto the show in later seasons.
  • Found the first episode fascinating, but third episode suffered from some bad premises and horrible scripting.   One cop going rogue in a 12 square mile area (locked inside a giant dome) and trying to hide in the woods? OK--someone is not thinking things through.
    Every kid in a small town using a Nokia device? Wow.. outdoing Finland's marketshare even.  Yah I'd like to see Nokia increase its marketshare, but I'm not living under a bubble like this show.
  • Well that settles it. The Dome is a plot by Apple and Google to stop this town from spreading the word of great products!
  • Spoiler alert!
  • On the other side of the world, you should check out the Jdorama (Japanese drama) titled Rich Man Poor Woman. The whole series is a windows 8 advertisement. It's a fictional love story about a start-up tech company creating the best personal file program with the best interface, for obvious reasons, Microsoft's metro interface won over "some other cluttered" options.
  • I even seen it on Mtv teen wolf and ABC's Scandal
  • Htc 8x is also shown when the kids in the skate park are watching the video of that cop killing his colleague.
  • I saw one of those, maybe two, while watching.
  • I guess they too couldn't get their hands on a wireless charging pad for the #lumia920 :)
  • Steven King now taking ideas from the Simpsons.
  • Adaptation OF Steven King's "Under The Dome." 
  • Y'all missed one of the placed products--the kids in the living were playing with a Xbox. Only saw the controller, though.
  • Like this show too. I noticed the white lumia 920. Pleased about that.
  • The new Superman movie "Man of Steal" and many of the new "Wendy's" commercials have Nokia Lumia 920 product placement.
  • Spoiler alert: Apple and Samsung conspired to put the dome on the town because everyone there was using Microsoft tablets and smartphones.