Apple has debuted a new iPhone ad online which showcases the convenience of having the Internet in your pocket, in this case during a ski trip.
Apple’s “The Great Thing” iPhone ad:
Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bijbN65jBoA
See the new ad in higher quality and with a choice of sizes via Apple here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Richard” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: That frozen, unmoving hand gives us the creeps.
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It’s not a hand: it’s a cunning cardboard replica.
Yeah, it’s great if:
a) You can afford to go on vacation.
b) You can afford lift tickets in Aspen.
c) Can afford to fly there.
Unfortunately, many regular folks are having trouble paying their heating bills this winter let alone taking ski vacations in Aspen. That could be part of the cause of Apple’s continued stock slide. People are hurting financially and can’t afford things like an iPhone so they can make mountain top phone calls to check what restaurant they will be eating at.
This ad strikes me as a bit unsensitive considering the current financial situation in the US.
“Thank you, Ampar.”
No problem. (why?)
Allan Combs or Alan Colmes?
Not to sound too INsensitive, but…
a) Not everyone’s current financial reality is the same as yours
b) It’s very possible your not the target of Apple’s advertising
c) Are you actually suggesting Apple NOT advertise the iPhone so people who can’t afford it won’t feel bad about themselves?
You’re not one of these people who won’t let kids play tag because some always gets tagged out, are you?
Well, they are planing on selling 10 million of those by the end of this year. Surely, there are 10 million people with extra $500 in their pocked, wouldn’t you think? Ads such as this one are meant to squeeze those $500 out of this kind of people, rather than have them buy LG Prada or that Voyager thing from Verizon.
There will be time to worry about reaching the middle and lower classes. For now, there is plenty of cash to be made on those with a bit more money and a decent-size cushion in the bank.
Ditto on time to change the music. How about Kill the Poor by the Dead Kennedys….
Let me explain the thought process people use to make non-essential buying decisions. Here’s what they ask themselves:
1. How much is my house worth compared to one year ago?
2. How much is stock portfolio worth compared to six months ago?
3. How secure is my job?
When they answer those questions they come up with this answer: I’m not buying anything I don’t have to like an iPhone, an expensive ski vacation in Aspen or a night out at an expensive restaurant. Why do you think Apple is trimming their sales forecasts for 2008? They know people are asking themselves these questions and getting an answer they don’t like. Don’t be surprised if Apple trims the forecast even further.
And no, I’m not saying Apple shouldn’t advertise the iPhone. Just make them a little appropriate for the times. Like some poor schmuck whipping out his iPhone to call the bank to beg for a few more weeks to make the car payment. Then using Google maps to check what street the repo man is on….
To Unemployed drifter: Are you available for children’s parties?
People just live – they hardly think about things like how secure is my job.
This recession BS is getting on my nerves – things will go up and down a bit – so what?
What are you going to do – stop living?
So spend a bit less, and buy an iPhone – it will make you happy.
Its your job to be happy, not miserably worrying about the price of your house.
What are you going to do? Sell it and live in a tent?
If you have a frickin’ ‘stock portfolio’ you aint worried about $500 stinkin bucks….
Seriously, calling from a mountaintop in Aspen to make restaurant reservations? That’s laughable! Jobs and the other ultra-rich need to come back to Earth and see what’s going on at the bottom of the mountain.
Gosh, where did people ever get the idea that Apple users are arrogant…?
@elgruga
You must live in Sweden. This is the more likely scenario. Gee, I have $500. I can buy an iPhone or I CAN PAY MY HEATING BILL!
People have to survive before they can “live”.
“Jobs and the other ultra-rich need to come back to Earth and see what’s going on at the bottom of the mountain.”
No, they don’t. Your delusion of entitlement is pathetic. If you want or need a cheap computer, buy one at Wal-Mart.
Oh, wait a minute…They did come back to earth. That’s why they trimmed their sales forecasts for 2008. They also must have noticed the $80 drop in the price of their stock since the first of the year.
Gee, they do care after all.
The only people who are delusional here are those that don’t realize that it’s going to be a long time before APPL sees $200 a share again.
I doubt APPELL PETE CORP (APPL) will ever hit 200.
Dumbass.
“Allan Combs or Alan Colmes?”
Er, uh, I meant “Alan Colmes combs Ann Coulter’s cooter”….maybe.
Unemployed Drifter-
Would you prefer a commercial of a homeless man looking up a soup kitchen on his dirty stolen iPhone? WTF do you expect a corporation to do? Not everyone has THAT distorted of a view of the economy, and if they did, regardless of the real outlook, it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And as far as I am concerned, a house should be a home first, and an investment second.
To the Unemployed drifter:
Listening to you, one would think the US is a third-world, poverty-stricken country where people struggle on dollar a day, scavenging for food, begging for any kind of work… We must put things into perspective here.
Median US household income in 2006 was around $50k. About 20% households in the US made over 100k. There are abour 116 million households. That means about 50 million people live in households that can easily afford iPhones for the whole family.
Unless four out of every five of those 50 million suddenly lose jobs and no longer have that much money (i.e. 20% unemployment rate for this segment of the population), iPhone will sell just fine.
@ Unemployed drifter with a computer and broadband
iPhone and Mac buyers, like you, have jobs. Targeting your advertising towards the unemployed is a waste of money and a real insult to the unemployed.
Microsoft has a lot of money. Why don’t you put in a good word, for a few real unemployed drifters, with your boss? You, of all people, know how he likes to spread it around.
You guys make the mistake of thinking that it’s only the unskilled that are loosing their jobs. The reality is that a lot of the newly unemployed people are highly skilled and highly paid professionals. Exactly the demographic that Apple targets the $500 iPhone (and iPod Touch) to.
The people who work at Apple, those that are responsible for forecasting sales, know this even if you don’t. That’s why they are trimming sales forecasts.
I’ve lived through enough downturns in the economy to know that things will get better again. But don’t expect that to happen until after the elections at the earliest.
What is an umemployed drifter doing on this forum? Is he on a library computer? And shouldn’t we ask Lexus to stop advertising? I mean, come on, who can afford a Lexus with the economy crumbling beneath us as we type this on our overpriced, overhyped, unnecessary Macs? We should all trade them in for cheapo windoze boxes, and walk to our jobs, that we will probably be downsized out of by the end of the day anyway.
Puh-leeze.
And check out the fingernail shape on the “holding hand” versus the swiping hand. Doesn’t look like the same pair of hands to me. And yes, the movement of the holding hand is totally mechanical. Of course, probably no one could hold a phone completely motionless for a 30-second spot, so I guess they had to use a fake.
Actually, what’s happening in the US these days isn’t downsizing. It’s the widespread abandonment of manufacturing in this country. That’s why the current unemployment rate is so troubling and that’s why the recovery, when it comes, might take a long time.
It may, indeed. But limiting advertising by companies that sell higher end goods would only further delay any recovery. So much of this stuff is self-fulfilling…I’ve read that companies that cut back on advertising during down times actually fall further and recover more slowly than those that continue, or step up advertising during those periods. There is momentum going both directions, and as soon as the press starts piling on with gloom & doom stories, the man-on-the-street begins to lower his expectations. This whole discussion stems from your attack on Apple for advertising high end goods. No matter how the economy is doing, there are buyers for the iPhone and other “luxury” goods. Not advertising because some people can’t afford it just doesn’t make sense to me. Many people are not having to make the choice between gadgets and food or shelter. One could make the case that since many people can’t afford the device, Apple is smart to market it at those who still can. My last word on this subject. (Go ahead, someone tell me how happy that makes you.
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I never said that Apple shouldn’t advertise. Smart companies spend money to improve the state of their health during downturns. Dumb companies wring their hands and ask, What are we going to do? As a shareholder I would be pissed if Apple pulled or cut back on their advertising just because the economy tanks.
My original comment, and I think it bears repeating at this point, is that I think Apple’s new ad is way off base. There are many people, these are professional people who used to make a lot of money, who are dire straights financially right now. If it comes down to making a mortgage payment or buying an iPhone I know which way that decision is going to go.
So do the people at Apple.
” . . . is that I think Apple’s new ad is way off base.”
WTF? You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Give it a rest.
“and I think it bears repeating at this point”
You’re the only one.
“If it comes down to making a mortgage payment or buying an iPhone . . .”
For fsck’s sake, PLEASE do not attempt to tell us what should be in the ad. I’ll give you one thing. Your drivel is eloquent.
@ampar
You are facing a new reality regarding Apple. You just don’t realize it yet.