By “All Parts of the Internet,” We Meant “All Steve-Approved Parts”
by John Paczkowski
Posted on August 27, 2008 at 6:45 AM PT
Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.
Looks like Apple (AAPL) has run afoul of Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) again. The watchdog agency, which took Apple to task in 2004 for its boast that the Power Mac G5 was “the world’s fastest, most powerful personal computer,” has ruled that one of the iPhone commercials the company has been running in the U.K. is misleading. The ad, which touts the iPhone’s Web browsing abilities, included the following voiceover:
You never know which part of the Internet you’ll need. The ‘do you need sun cream’ part? The ‘what’s the quickest way to the airport’ part? The ‘what about an ocean view room’ part? Or the ‘can you really afford this’ part? Which is why all the parts of the Internet are on the iPhone.”
ASA took issue with that last line. Because the iPhone doesn’t support Flash or Java, there are actually quite a few parts of the Internet that aren’t available on the iPhone, which make’s the ad misleading in ASA’s eyes. “Because the iPhone doesn’t support Flash or Java, you couldn’t really see the Internet in its full glory,” ASA spokesperson Olivia Campbell told the BBC. “They made a very general claim that you can see the Internet in its entirety, and actually that’s not quite true.”
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how you look at it. Because truthfully, the iPhone can access Flash and Java content. It just doesn’t doesn’t render it. In any event, the ASA is an independent organization, not a government one so it can’t exactly enforce its ban on the commercial at issue here, anyway.
Comments
is this organization a joke.
Posted by brad morrison at August 27th, 2008 at 10:26 amapple didn’t say that you would be able to see the internet in all it glory and brilliance. must be a slow day in advertising over there in Britain because ASA is really nit picking on this issue
Hello digital natives,
Firstly, as usual, good article John.
The iPhone faithfuls will still claim otherwise regarding java/flash/multimedia content. I suppose it’s not just the whole smart mobile “industry” still in shock from the iPhone, it’s also so called marketing guru’s – who probably said “Yeah it’s going to big … but like all fads it will pass, by the way, did Dell call back?”
Regards,
John Grant
Posted by John Grant at August 27th, 2008 at 1:29 pmCan ‘access’ versus ‘render’? That sounds like spin talking. I doubt many people have suddenly freaked out at the lack of Flash / Java, but the ASA decision is probably a good line in the sand for what kind of hype lives on the wrong side of grey.
Posted by Seamus Byrne at August 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm