New iPhone Ads Fail to Impress

Apple is continuing to push the iPhone onto potential customers via two new advertisements (located here) showing the capabilities of the device. The two ads, targeting all kinds of people, seemingly aim to contradict claims that the iPhone OS isn’t capable of multitasking. Apple shows how users can carry out different activities while on hold in a conversation, as well as send video MMS and do conferencing.

Based on what we’ve seen in the two ads, a certain take on the subject is necessary. Although the iPhone is indeed great, the latest ads make it look like it’s the only device out there that is capable of carrying out the respective tasks. It’s not, and the voice actors fail to convince the audience even more.

“On Hold” starts out with a male actor saying, “It’s kind of incredible,” one expression used by Apple for everything it does, even though not everything it does is (incredible). “I don’t even mind being on hold,” he continues, and proceeds to check his email, pay bills, buy a game, wait for it to be installed, and finally play it. This should translate into a lot of waiting time, although the ad would have you think you can effortlessly do all this in around two minutes.

You can’t, mostly because it takes a while to move between applications, type things on the small virtual keyboard (including erasing mistakes), access the App Store, choose a title, enter a password, wait for the application to be downloaded and installed, and finally fire it up. And who is running that tight of a schedule that they absolutely must do all this during a call?

For the record, everyone seems to mind being on hold, no matter how great their life is. A green strip of pixels constantly flickering on your screen, keeping you aware that you’re in the middle of a call clearly tests your abilities to multitask. The ending line is even less convincing – “Yeah. I need my iPhone for... well, everything!” Yeah, well, it doesn’t cook, and it doesn’t keep the bed warm either.

The second ad, “First Steps,” features a happy mother who has just shot a video of her child taking his first steps. She considered it “amazing” (with this, we agree), so she sent the recording over to her mom and grandpa (whom both own an iPhone capable of handling MMS, right?) and then got on the phone with both of them at the same time to talk about it. “We would have never shared that without the iPhone,” she says. Although the tone is more convincing in this ad, the statement isn’t. Anyone with a bit of spare time on their hands care to make a list of conferencing-capable phones in the comments? Because everyone should know it’s not just the iPhone that can do this. We love Apple, but we also want everyone to be well informed, so they can make choices for themselves.

The new ads continue Apple’s campaign of promoting the iPhone as the best platform to run hundreds of thousands of apps that can improve one’s life. That’s true. However, while most of the iPhone ads have done a great job at showing this so far, the latest two suggest the campaign is running out of fuel. Softpedia would also like to point out that many of the so-called iPhone-specific features shown in these two spots have been shown before. Hopefully, the same thing doesn’t happen to the “Get a Mac” ad campaign, which, by the way, hasn’t seen any new additions in a while.