The ASA has concluded that the iPhone cannot access websites which use Java or Flash, despite Apple's claim that "all parts of the internet are on the iPhone". Two members of the public complained about the TV advert, therefore prompting the ASA to tell Apple UK to stop airing the ad.

"Two viewers believed the claim that all parts of the internet were accessible was misleading because they understood that the iPhone did not support Flash or Java, both integral to many web pages," the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said. Since Java and Flash are not enabled on the iPhone, users would be tempted to think they'd have access to the features of the websites that rely mostly, or solely on Flash or Java.

According to the ASA, Apple considered that the claims "You'll never know which part of the internet you'll need" and "all parts of the internet are on the iPhone" implied users would be able to access all websites and see them in their entirety. The ASA however, thought otherwise. "We considered that, because the ad had not explained the limitations, viewers were likely to expect to be able to see all the content on a website normally accessible through a PC rather than just having the ability to reach the website," the advertising authority stated.

Apple, for its part, said that the aim was to highlight the benefit of the iPhone as offering all internet websites, while other, less powerful handsets, offer access to WAP versions of the same websites, or the sites selected by service providers. Apple therefore defended its claims by saying the ad referred to the availability of web pages, rather than their specific appearance. Nevertheless, the ASA couldn't accept this, since not one, but two members of the public had found the ad misleading.

"We concluded that the ad gave a misleading impression of the internet capabilities of the iPhone, because Apple had not explained the limitations of browsing the web on the iPhone compared with a PC," said the ASA in its ruling.