The ad, now accessible on YouTube, was first shown at the formal launch of Windows Phone 8 on Monday, where Ballmer appeared onstage with model Jessica Alba. He pointed out how different his Windows Phone from Alba's largely due to how the live tiles in the interface can be set up and used.

Ballmer shares elements of his own personal life in the ad -- having lunch with his sons and generally heeding advice from his wife, Connie. He also talks of needing better advice on how to play golf, calls a suggestion by Microsoft founder Bill Gates to sell a purple-colored WindowsPhone as "useful advice."

The ad is more than a Ballmer promotion, however. It's one of those rare ads that actually describes a technology; in this case the live tiles at the heart of Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.

The live tiles, arranged as little squares on the home screen of the phone, can be adjusted in size, color and location.

The tiles are kept current in real-time so that a Skype tile with a "2" after the signature "S" can be used to show two new requests to video chat when the tile is touched. In another tile, an envelope icon representing emails followed by a "99" indicates that 99 unread emails are waiting.