Apple Joins AT&T/Verizon Spat With New iPhone Ads (See Them Here!)
by John Paczkowski
Posted on November 23, 2009 at 10:19 AM PT
Verizon’s merciless razzing of AT&T has finally elicited a reaction from Apple. Presumably peeved at seeing its marquee product banished to the “Island of Misfit Toys” in one of Big Red’s new holiday ads, Apple is launching a pair of new iPhone ads that tout the smartphone and the network on which it runs.
Scheduled to run tonight during programs like “House,” “The Daily Show” and “Dancing With the Stars,” the Apple (AAPL) ads tout the iPhone’s ability to handle data and voice simultaneously, something Verizon’s (VZ) CDMA network does not permit. “Say you’re on a call with a client and he asks, ‘did you see my email?’ You can say, ‘yep got it right here,’ all without ever leaving the call,” the ad explains. “Can your phone and your network do that?”
Interesting to see Apple’s commercial messaging for the iPhone, which has to date focused on hardware and software, suddenly extended to include the features of the AT&T (T) network on which it runs. Apple, for its part, tells me the ads were done without any involvement from AT&T, and that may well be the case. But coming as they do after Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” parody and a handful of other AT&T-bashing ads in which the iPhone is an unwilling participant, it’s hard not to view the new commercials as Apple coming to the defense of its exclusive carrier partner.
PREVIOUSLY:
- AT&T Awarded Hug and a Box of Tissues in Verizon Ad Case
- Verizon to AT&T: Do Yourself a Favor and Shut Up
- Frosty’s Winter Litigation Wonderland: AT&T Demands Verizon Pull Holiday iPhone Ads [With Full Complaint]
- Verizon Banishes iPhone to Island of Misfit Toys
- Verizon on AT&T Suit: There’s a Word for That. “Junk.”
- Verizon to iPhone Users: “Want Five Times More 3G Coverage? There’s a Map for That.”
