Apple always had a nose for ways to make its products a lot more appealing with the help of ads. The first one ever released by Apple in 1984 was, at the time, a ground-breaking way of promoting a product. That commercial was named "1984", it had launched the Macintosh during the Super Bowl in 1984 (of course) and, as rumors go, it only aired once.

Although shown only once on the TV screens, that ad reached 46.4 percent of American homes and, therefore, the 800.000 $ costs to make and the 800.000 $ for the air time were more than justified. That ad made it into the US TV Guide's "50 Greatest Commercials of All Time" top and reached the first place.

The ad of the iPhone I'm writing about here, even if it won't get to be so notorious, still is another proof of Apple team's thorough knowledge of how to promote a product not even launched on the market.

The ad has aired last night, during the Oscars, and contains snippets of movie stars saying hello on different types of phones. It stars with an ancient black rotary phone ringing and it ends with the iPhone we all know so well.

The best thing about this ad is its simple idea and the way it managed to blend in with the Oscars atmosphere: what else could they come up to make it look so natural in between the year's greatest movies?

The ad containing 28 actors from all eras of cinematography and even a couple of animated characters go through saying "Hello", except two that say "bonjour" and "yo! yo!" (nice touch isn't it? :) ), until the very end when the iPhone appears on the screen, immediately followed by a big "Hello" message on a black screen and a "Coming in June" finale.

Although this ad seems to be very simple and very easily made, Apple has paid 1.7 million $ for it. If it is a worthy price for such a masterpiece or if it will prove to be a good move coming from Apple, we will learn very soon because, unlike yesterday or the day before, now everyone knows when the iPhone will arrive for sure: in June.

If you're curious and want to see it for yourself, take a look bellow and tell us what you think about it: