News
Apple runs iPhone teaser during Oscars (updated)
During tonight’s broadcast of the 79th annual Academy Awards, the first television commercial for Apple’s iPhone was aired—multiple times. The 30-second teaser featured over 30 famous actors and actresses—such as Lucille Ball, Michael J. Fox, Will Ferrell, Robert Redford and Harrison Ford—answering the phone in a series of famous television, cartoon, and movie sequences. A rotating image of the iPhone appeared, followed by the word “Hello” on the screen in white text on a black background, followed by the line “Coming in June.” The iPhone screen now features the AT&T name rather than Cingular’s, as Cingular has recently been absorbed into the larger phone company. View the commercial, set to the song Inside Your Head by Eberg, below.
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1
kind of blah ... for a commercial that will probably only air one time, it wasn’t that monumental or creative, as 1984 was ...
Posted by joe Cordeal on February 25, 2007 at 6:56 PM (PDT)
2
no link to video yet??
Posted by BIGP in Texas on February 25, 2007 at 7:01 PM (PDT)
3
what a lame ad. apple could have paid me $2 million and I could ahve come up with better.
zero new footage. what a waste of space.
Posted by Andrew on February 25, 2007 at 7:51 PM (PDT)
4
This is the iPhone, not the introduction of Apple computers…. just remember that. For a short commercial to tease us with the iPhone, I think this is another success for Apple ads.
Posted by Andy on February 25, 2007 at 8:40 PM (PDT)
5
No wonder people keep ########. You were expecting 1984? You thought this would revolutionize commercials?
LOL. It’s called a teaser for a reason. It’s as “underwhelming” as any short movie teaser trailer that pops up in theaters before we see the complete version.
Posted by MacVicta on February 25, 2007 at 8:46 PM (PDT)
6
What the heck was that? That didn’t make me want to pay $400+ in June.
Posted by Jason on February 25, 2007 at 9:09 PM (PDT)
7
Think Different II
Posted by Eric on February 25, 2007 at 9:31 PM (PDT)
8
People, it’s a freakin’ commercial. Get over it, who cares?
Posted by Brent on February 25, 2007 at 10:32 PM (PDT)
9
“Cingular has recently been absorbed into the larger phone company.”
I think it was the other way around—Cingular bought AT&T, but took the AT&T name.
Posted by otaku on February 26, 2007 at 2:36 AM (PDT)
10
http://www.apple.com/iphone/hello/
Posted by terry chay on February 26, 2007 at 3:31 AM (PDT)
11
“‘Cingular has recently been absorbed into the larger phone company.’
I think it was the other way around—Cingular bought AT&T, but took the AT&T name.”
Actually, AT&T corp was absorbed by SBC in 2005, and they became AT&T, Inc. Then in 2006, AT&T, Inc. bought out Bellsouth (owner of Cingular) and formed “the new at&t”
Posted by Nobody on February 26, 2007 at 5:14 AM (PDT)
12
wasn’t this a play on the introduction of the mac where they advertised it with hello on its screen?
Posted by mina on February 26, 2007 at 5:52 AM (PDT)
13
ilounge’s RSS feed is still broken:
(No description.)
No description means no click through.
Posted by aapl87 on February 26, 2007 at 7:01 AM (PDT)
14
Wow, thus confirming how out of touch I am with American Society, I was sitting there watching that ad last night and commenting on how brilliant it was that they A)said nothing about the product and relied on all the media buzz over a month ago; and B) used famous movie “hello’s” during the Oscars. Guess, I didn’t realize how “lame” it was.
Posted by urbanslaughter on February 26, 2007 at 7:41 AM (PDT)
15
Oh, and I forgot to add C) it can play movies and TV episodes too (thus another reason that they used famous movies etc.). Do you people need to be hit over the head with stuff for it to be cool???
Posted by urbanslaughter on February 26, 2007 at 7:43 AM (PDT)
16
I loved the commercial, it was very “Apple” and it brought a smile to my face.
Posted by Bethany Heck on February 26, 2007 at 8:45 AM (PDT)
17
urbanslaughter, it is not you who’s out of touch. It’s the attention-deficit disordered american public who needs to be hit with flying bright colors, rock music and dancing silhouettes in order to not be “underwhelmed.”
You understood the intention of Apple just fine.
Posted by MacVicta on February 26, 2007 at 8:49 AM (PDT)
18
urbanslaughter, I agree 100%. Nobody else gets the fact that this spot aired during the freakin OSCAR’S. I thought it was an excellent tie-in and very well done. Anyone know where I can find a list of all of the actors? I started one myself but could only identify about 80% of them.
Posted by mjpd1 on February 26, 2007 at 9:43 AM (PDT)
19
Christian Marclay could sue Apple over this rip-off of his “Telephone.” (But, of course, he doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to borrowing other people’s work.)
Posted by Turnbridge on February 26, 2007 at 10:12 AM (PDT)
20
I decided as soon as the commerical started that if they showed The Dude, I would go out and buy a iPhone first day. As you can tell from the thumbnail, they did. So let’s see how June goes.
Posted by Nick on February 27, 2007 at 2:41 PM (PDT)
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