
Apple iPhone ad banned by Advertising Standards Authority over misleading internet claims - nickb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/27/apple.apple
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brandonkm
That ad wasn't overly misleading. Saying "all parts of the internet are on the
iphone" and then adding "except java and flash" wouldn't really flow well into
the ad, so its no suprise they left that out. I don't think the commercial was
intended to be misleading at all, but rather just showcase that the iphone
internet experience is much more capable than the competition. Its really up
to the consumer to do the research on the particular technologies that the
iphone does and dosn't have. Hard to frame everything in a 30 second tv spot.

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halo
>but rather just showcase that the iphone internet experience is much more
capable than the competition.

Except the competition does have both Java and Flash, so it depends how you
define "capable" doesn't it?

It's interesting how they're criticising them over the use of browser plugins
and not their dubious use of 'the internet'.

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brandonkm
I guess i'd define "capable" as having the best browser experience ever
experienced on a cell phone. The competition may have java and flash, but the
competition also dosn't have the touch based technology combined with the the
design aesthetics that the iphone has. So when I mention "capable" and they
use "the internet", you can say in a sense that they are talking about the
iphone internet experience thats unique to that device even without the java
and flash.

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ashu
Of all the things, they probably picked the least misleading bit to ban them.
The "twice as fast" was an easier pick. Also, "half the price".

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Timothee
In fact, the "twice as fast" was removed from the ads in Canada and replaced
by something like "pretty fast". Also absent from Apple Canada website
(<http://www.apple.com/ca/>)

The "half the price" part is indeed a very annoying marketing trick.

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inovica
Apple should advertise the lack of Flash as a feature :) All joking aside I
don't find it _that_ misleading. I suspect that the people who complained to
the ASA were not the general public but competitors just looking to take Apple
down a peg or two.

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aaronblohowiak
Claiming support for an extensible technology should not then require that all
extensions are supported. Further, many websites require custom ActiveX
controls, which non-MS browsers cannot support. While I am a proponent of
accountability and upset about the lack of flash support on the iPhone, I'd
rather see "Unlimited" have its meaning restored than chasing ambiguous edge
cases like this (but I don't know if they even have that problem in the UK.)

Then again, they are just banning the Ad in its current form, and not taking
other action against Apple. If Apple added "standard" to their description of
the "entire internet", then they should be free and clear while also
furthering the case for the <canvas> tag. That'd make me happy.

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DougBTX
Here is the ASA Verdict page on the topic:
[http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_44891....](http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_44891.htm)
(via Daring Fireball)

"All the parts of the internet" is clearly wrong, there is no support for VoIP
for a start. So, yes, good call.

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jsmcgd
How about something like 'all web pages are on the iphone' instead of 'all
parts of the internet are on the iphone' as this is patently false.

