I've been pretty critical of Apple's advertising in the past, particularly the "I'm a Mac" ads: I think they're examples of the company's self-absorption, smug and sometimes inaccurate, with that annoying hipster guy that makes a Mac user like me want to go hang out with Steve Ballmer. So I think the new batch of iPhone ads are really noteworthy:
Why?
They don't try to be clever or funny. Instead, they display the product in a compelling way. Anybody who's used a smartphone knows the limitations of them; I really like my Blackjack but let's face it, browsing the web in WAP and coping with the deranged Windows Mobile interface are not high points of one's life; they're tools that get things done, albeit awkwardly.
So watching this ad and seeing a real browser (and seeing someone flicking through album covers with their finger, and all of that) is actually very impressive. My first reaction was, "ooh!"
Whether iPhone lives up to all that is something we'll find out after June 29, when mortals start getting them. But the ads do what ads should do - they make it look like the coolest phone ever. That won't sell phones on its own, but it will get people looking at them, and having some idea of what's different about them. And that's the point.
Coming from me - who usually sees an Apple ad and wants to get rid of products I like just to avoid becoming one of those Mac people - that's high praise.
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