Vandals posing as builders paint Microsoft Windows logo on Apple store | Mail Online

Vandals posing as builders paint Microsoft Windows logo on Apple store under construction in Hamburg

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 8:23 AM on 7th June 2011

It was a prank perhaps worthy of something the guerrilla artist Banksy might produce. However the end result was less street art, more geek art.

People who walked past this new Apple Store, due to open in the German city of Hamburg, might well have wondered why a logo advertising the company's arch rival appeared on its wall.

In an act of vandalism, which may well have been inspired by the graffiti street artist Banksy, four enterprising pranksters plastered the logo for Microsoft Windows on the side of the building's construction barricade.

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Operation Microsoft: The vandals arrive at the scene in fluorescent jackets with a ladder

Brazen: In broad daylight the pranksters get to work plastering the Microsoft Windows logo on the outside of the Apple Store

Dressed as builders in fluorescent jackets - and brandishing ladders and street cordons - the vandals apparently filmed themselves defacing the building, then put the the video on YouTube for all to see.

The joke is sure to raise a titter or two among those who know about the rivalry and in-squabbling between the two computer giants.

Sure enough, within hours of it going up the bright and colourful Windows logo was removed from the surface of the Apple Store.

The store is due to open for business this summer and, much like the one already open in fellow German city Munich, it will be a two-storey structure with large glass panels - or windows - on the outside.

Rivalry between the two companies is notoriously fierce, which has become particularly competitive in recent years as the pair fight it out for dominance of the market.

Our work here is done: The jokers casually carry their ladder away from the scene, after their Banksy-inspired act of vandalism

In April, it was revealed that Microsoft's quarterly profits and revenues had been eclipsed for the first time in 20 years by Apple.

It was reported that Bill Gates's empire had fallen behind Steve Jobs's company as a slowdown in the PC business and continuing losses in its search division held it back.

It was seen as a key moment in the industry, due in part to the rise of Apple's iPad tablet computer and its iPhone smartphone.

Though this latest incident was the work of pranksters, it is not the first time Apple and Microsoft branding have been so close together.

According to website Edible Apple - which specialises in news and gossip about Steve Jobs' company - Microsoft has, in the past, placed new stores in close proximity to existing Apple ones.

It has also set up Microsoft-branded 'I'm a PC' kiosks - capitalising on the famous Apple advertising campaign - outside a handful of their rivals' stores in the UK and US enticing people to make their own 'I'm a PC' video.