Apple Releases New iPhone 3GS Ad: 'Avid'

MacRumors · Aug 25, 2009

Apple has released a new iPhone 3GS commercial targeting sports enthusiasts. Like many recent iPhone ads, 'Avid' highlights three applications linked by a common theme and is available in Apple's iPhone ad gallery.

- Golfshot: Golf GPS [App Store, $29.99] - Provides GPS range-finding and aerial views for over 15,000 golf courses worldwide.
- MLB.com At Bat 2009 [App Store, $9.99] - Offers live video streaming of limited Major League Baseball games, as well as audio streaming, video highlights and recaps, and "Gameday" live graphical pitch-by-pitch coverage.
- TouchSports Tennis '09 [App Store, $0.99] - Offers a realistic 3D tennis game experience with multiple characters and courts to choose from.

Article Link: Apple Releases New iPhone 3GS Ad: 'Avid'

deannnnn · Aug 25, 2009

I'm pretty sure this ad has been out for a few weeks now.
I've seen it during Yankees games.

SFStateStudent · Aug 25, 2009

+1 ^^^ Yup, I got the GolfShot GPS for $80 for lifetime and it's well worth it for me. Make sure you are fully charged before getting out on the course....

Now if I can only get it off my KRZR and on my iPhone, I'd be happy, since the one I bought is a Verizon specific app...

rakbook · Aug 25, 2009

Centre Court?

Isn't centre court at Wimbledon... as in grass?

fpnc · Aug 25, 2009

Since the iPhone's GPS is only accurate to about +/- 50 feet (at best) I can't see how anyone would spend $30 for the Golf GPS app.

iphones4evry1 · Aug 25, 2009

The concept of the GPS golf App is pretty cool ! It knows the coordinates of the pins on each hole and using your GPS, calculates your distance. Now, that's a sweet gadget! (Just be sure to put the phone on sleep when you aren't actively using it, or your battery won't get you to the 18th).

fpnc said:
Since the iPhone's GPS is only accurate to about +/- 50 feet (at best) I can't see how anyone would spend $30 for the Golf GPS app.

Absolutely incorrect. Maybe it depends on where you live, but when I walk from one side of my house to the other, if I walk into my backyard or out to my car, my GPS blue dot moves and is accurate +/- 25 feet. (no, I do not live in a mansion, a normal middle-class size house). When I'm outdoors (not in a building), it is even more accurate, maybe +/- 15 feet. I'm being totally serious, and I've tested this many times using the satellite view in maps. Like I said, maybe it varies based on where you live, but in my area, it's surprisingly accurate. I've used the GPS pin to find my car numerous times in parking lots, and sometimes it's literally dead-on accurate, and sometimes it is off by about 20 feet. It varies from time to time.

spillproof · Aug 25, 2009

So for the MLB app, you can watch live games (with delay of course) over 3G? The description says it detects your connection to deliver the appropriate quality.

For where i live, Tampa Florida, the GPS dot fails a lot. Many times I don't even get a blue dot, just a 5 mile radius. It works when its wants too.

twoodcc · Aug 25, 2009

not a bad ad.

creon · Aug 25, 2009

Some of these apps i find use but some of them just make me shake my head.
Would I use it for a game of golf? No.

Is it a good idea? Yes.

Its apps like this and many others that make people buy an iPhone. Its a great phone but the apps make it THE phone to buy.

Gurtz · Aug 25, 2009

Just noticing here. There is a change in time.
The first (I think) three ads showed the time as 9:43 AM.
All other adds have show the time 9:42 AM on iPhone as it was the time when iPhone was announced at MacWorld.
This add shows 7:42 AM for some reason.

Bronco46 · Aug 25, 2009

Good Grief Tennis!
How about a sport with many many more fans, like Nascar. It would seem to me you should lead with sports that have the largest fan base, football, hockey are other good examples. Tennis!?

sizzlingbadger · Aug 25, 2009

Bronco46 said:
Good Grief Tennis!
How about a sport with many many more fans, like Nascar. It would seem to me you should lead with sports that have the largest fan base, football, hockey are other good examples. Tennis!?

Nascar... aren't you forgetting about the rest of the world

fpnc · Aug 25, 2009

fpnc said:
Since the iPhone's GPS is only accurate to about +/- 50 feet (at best) I can't see how anyone would spend $30 for the Golf GPS app.

iphones4evry1 said:
...Absolutely incorrect. Maybe it depends on where you live, but when I walk from one side of my house to the other, if I walk into my backyard or out to my car, my GPS blue dot moves and is accurate +/- 25 feet. (no, I do not live in a mansion, a normal middle-class size house). When I'm outdoors (not in a building), it is even more accurate, maybe +/- 15 feet. I'm being totally serious, and I've tested this many times using the satellite view in maps. Like I said, maybe it varies based on where you live, but in my area, it's surprisingly accurate. I've used the GPS pin to find my car numerous times in parking lots, and sometimes it's literally dead-on accurate, and sometimes it is off by about 20 feet. It varies from time to time.

Civilian GPS are generally only accurate to +/- 15 meters with some of the newer devices capable of perhaps +/- 5 meters (see wikipedia). The fact that you find situations that are better than that is just a "luck of the draw." In fact, you could find some situations where it appears "dead" accurate but that is only because it has to fall somewhere within the +/- accuracy range of the device. It's not always going to be off by exactly 15 meters, if it were you could just apply that as a correction factor. Now, if you set a waypoint (or map pin/flag) to your current location then the GPS will generally get you back pretty close to that point only because the "error" will be similar on both trials (if they are separated by only a short period of time). However, returning to a user-set waypoint is a completely different situation than placing you accurately at a given point on the surface of the earth (such as on a map or a map of a golf course). Besides, maps will have their own errors which could range from a few feet (at best) to tens of feet. The net is that when you combine the GPS error with the map errors you could be off by a hundred feet or you could be very close to the true position (but you'll never know for sure, that's the nature of a random error).

As for the iPhone's GPS, I've seen several posts that suggest that its accuracy really isn't on par with the best of the civilian GPS systems. Thus, don't try to hold up my previous statement about +/- 5 meters as evidence that the iPhone can accurately place you on a map to that precision. The +/- 15 meters is a good rule of thumb, sometimes you'll be better than that, sometimes you may even be worse. Further, if you try one of the GPS apps like MotionX GPS you'll see that they report an accuracy figure and that value will generally be around 50 feet (at best) even when they report a good GPS signal. I can also report that the accuracy of the CoPilot Live turn-by-turn GPS app for the iPhone seems to range between +/- 50 yards (but that's a combined GPS and map error within a moving vehicle).

Whether such accuracy (or lack thereof) in a golf GPS app is a critical factor is debatable. Sometimes it could be an aid, other times not.

iphones4evry1 · Aug 26, 2009

fpnc said:
Civilian GPS are generally only accurate to +/- 15 meters with some of the newer devices capable of perhaps +/- 5 meters (see wikipedia). The fact that you find situations that are better than that is just a "luck of the draw." In fact, you could find some situations where it appears "dead" accurate but that is only because it has to fall somewhere within the +/- accuracy range of the device. It's not always going to be off by exactly 15 meters, if it were you could just apply that as a correction factor. Now, if you set a waypoint (or map pin/flag) to your current location then the GPS will generally get you back pretty close to that point only because the "error" will be similar on both trials (if they are separated by only a short period of time). However, returning to a user-set waypoint is a completely different situation than placing you accurately at a given point on the surface of the earth (such as on a map or a map of a golf course). Besides, maps will have their own errors which could range from a few feet (at best) to tens of feet. The net is that when you combine the GPS error with the map errors you could be off by a hundred feet or you could be very close to the true position (but you'll never know for sure, that's the nature of a random error).

As for the iPhone's GPS, I've seen several posts that suggest that its accuracy really isn't on par with the best of the civilian GPS systems. Thus, don't try to hold up my previous statement about +/- 5 meters as evidence that the iPhone can accurately place you on a map to that precision. The +/- 15 meters is a good rule of thumb, sometimes you'll be better than that, sometimes you may even be worse. Further, if you try one of the GPS apps like MotionX GPS you'll see that they report an accuracy figure and that value will generally be around 50 feet (at best) even when they report a good GPS signal. I can also report that the accuracy of the CoPilot Live turn-by-turn GPS app for the iPhone seems to range between +/- 50 yards (but that's a combined GPS and map error within a moving vehicle).

Whether such accuracy (or lack thereof) in a golf GPS app is a critical factor is debatable. Sometimes it could be an aid, other times not.

I know what you mean. I've read many times that civilian GPS accuracy is limited. I'm just telling you what I have experienced. I understand what you mean about +/- 15 meters being a range (I seem to recall that this range was revised to +/- 10 meters about a year ago). So, I'll just say that only about 1/3 of the time is my GPS inaccurate by more than 5 meters. 2/3 of the time, it is accurate to 5 meters or less. Of course, this is when I am outdoors or in a wooden house. If I'm in a steel-framed building or in other areas that may interfere, it is less accurate. This is my own experience and I'm sure it depends a lot on where you live. I am just as surprised as you are about how accurate my iPhone's GPS is. I had never expected it to be this accurate. I must have gotten lucky or something.

MacBacker · Aug 26, 2009

I also love how Apple chooses Matt Costa's "Mr. Pitiful" as the music to all of this year's commercials. Its so catchy!

stevelaw · Aug 26, 2009

Golf App works well

fpnc said:
Since the iPhone's GPS is only accurate to about +/- 50 feet (at best) I can't see how anyone would spend $30 for the Golf GPS app.

I have been using the golf app for about a month and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Accuracy is usually within a yard or two of my friend's $400 "SkyCaddie" golf GPS unit. I also have a laser rangefinder, and the app is usually within a couple of yards (often exactly the same) as the yardage I get on the rangefinder. The aerial view feature of the app also is useful for courses you have not played, as it will reveal sand traps and hazards that might not be visible from where you are standing.

The app does suck up battery life, and takes at least 10-15 seconds to acquire satellites after powered back up. If I disable 3g, bluetooth, wi-fi, push or fetch email, and dim the screen a little, I can last 18 holes with enough power to spare for the ride home (iPhone 3Gs).

My experience with the app is not unique - just take a look at the many positive ratings at the app store.

fpnc · Aug 26, 2009

stevelaw said:
I have been using the golf app for about a month and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Accuracy is usually within a yard or two of my friend's $400 "SkyCaddie" golf GPS unit...

Do you have to set a GPS fix or do a calibration setting at every tee-off point? If so, that would help to reduce map and short-term errors in the GPS. In any case, the fact that it agrees with another GPS isn't that surprising (both could suffer similar errors) but if it comes to within a few yards of a laser rangefinder that is a completely different finding. Don't they periodically move the pin on the greens and how can the GPS take that into consideration?

applealex · Aug 26, 2009

Gurtz said:
Just noticing here. There is a change in time.
The first (I think) three ads showed the time as 9:43 AM.
All other adds have show the time 9:42 AM on iPhone as it was the time when iPhone was announced at MacWorld.
This add shows 7:42 AM for some reason.

I didn't notice

when the iPhone was first announced Steve Jobs showed a picture of the lock screen with the time 9:41AM. and many commercials carried the time but some has 7:10 others had 1:13 and one had 10:23

I guess they looked back at the tapes and concluded that Steve messed up and announced the iPhone one minute late and started using 9:42AM

I've always wondered how they always get it to have 9:42. do they hack it?. do they just go and change the time?

stevelaw · Aug 28, 2009

fpnc said:
Do you have to set a GPS fix or do a calibration setting at every tee-off point? If so, that would help to reduce map and short-term errors in the GPS. In any case, the fact that it agrees with another GPS isn't that surprising (both could suffer similar errors) but if it comes to within a few yards of a laser rangefinder that is a completely different finding. Don't they periodically move the pin on the greens and how can the GPS take that into consideration?

Re GPS fix, you hit a "start round" button at the begiining of the round and select the course you are playing. At that point it acquires the gps satellites and pulls up the first hole. My comment re comparison to another GPS device was more related to relative cost than to relative accuracy.

I too was surprised re the comparison to my rangefinder, although don't get me wrong - it can often be off by 3 or 4 yards. I suck too much at golf for that difference to be significant. Laser is good for actual distance to the pin. The GPS gives you front / rear of green and you need to interpolate based upon pin position. When I compared laser to GPS, I was looking at distance to hazards or traps, which is a closer fix.

I still have been pleasantly surprised by the GPS. I sill carry the laser because of the ability to get distances to various landmarks that might not show up on the gps program, for example the distance to a certain tree when I am trying to lay up and don't want to overhit the ball.

Finally, it lets me continue to be a gadget freak even when I am playing golf. Now if I could just improve my game a little more .............

Apple Releases New iPhone 3GS Ad: 'Avid'

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