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Apple Debuts Four New FaceTime Ads
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4:AM DrunkDial version by 7:AM tomorrow. Called it.
Or remember that scene in Demolition Man where the naked chick accidentally calls Stallone? That would be good too.
That would be true for all commercials dude. All car commercials do that. All commercials make you feel a little bad for not using their product. These are good commercials
There are plenty of places with WiFi: homes, offices, schools, hotels, coffee shops, airports. With good enough battery life, you'd leave WiFi on (on the phone) to conserve your 3G data allowance. And you don't necessarily have to plan; you can be on a "regular" phone call, and switch to FaceTime on the fly. That's more spontaneous than using a computer, and/or using Skype or Fring or whatever. (And the computer also needs WiFi or a wired connection, so it's no better.)
The phone tells you if FaceTime is available. If you want to show off your haircut, you can do it then if it's available, or it can wait until later. You don't have to ask, or give away the surprise. Instead of focusing on all the times it can't work, consider how often it would, and therefore would be good to have as an option.
...really?
It's shmaltzy, conservative, clean, 2-dimensional, benign, unbelievable, vanilla, aggressively mediocre commercial acting.
It's like they raided the rejects at a casting call for Days of our Lives.
They make you forget what you're using to talk to your loved one, and only at the very end does Apple advertise their logo and name. They show what you can do with this amazing device (as if you don't know) and how simple it is, without even slapping a label on it.
It is a little farfetched, however it drills the message home - this feature is useful for those special moments.
It is a little farfetched, however it drills the message home - this feature is useful for those special moments.
I agree, I want to project myself into the story. But I think this tries to do that with way too heavy a hand. What's wrong with a little levity? Even the Haircut one, which is the most lighthearted, feels so serious and oddly severe.
Of course there're things about them that are brilliant; the fact that there's no soundtrack, it's all about the conversation, it's going in the exact opposite direction HTC and MS are going with their over-produced noise-bomb ads...all good choices.
I just feel like I'm being preached at, rather than talked with. Told, rather than persuaded.
No, it's bad acting (maybe you don't know anything?). That acting feels very forced and absolutely reeks of cliche at every turn; void of any real emotion.
The era of Video calling has arrived
Although this feature has been available in other phones for a few years now, leave it to Apple to be able to sell it and get people to want to use it.
These ads are going to win awards. They're memorable and they have this quality that hold your attention. If you were walking away from the tv and heard the first seconds of the ad, you'd pay attention and then the conversation would hold you through to the end. All 4 of the ads do this very effectively.
They do a great job of tapping into human emotion and making video calling appear to be common place. It makes it not so dorky or gimmicky and gives people real world examples where FaceTime would come in handy.
With iPhone4, soon iPod and likely AppleTV, the era of video calling has definitely arrived.
Although this feature has been available in other phones for a few years now, leave it to Apple to be able to sell it and get people to want to use it.
These ads are going to win awards. They're memorable and they have this quality that hold your attention. If you were walking away from the tv and heard the first seconds of the ad, you'd pay attention and then the conversation would hold you through to the end. All 4 of the ads do this very effectively.
They do a great job of tapping into human emotion and making video calling appear to be common place. It makes it not so dorky or gimmicky and gives people real world examples where FaceTime would come in handy.
With iPhone4, soon iPod and likely AppleTV, the era of video calling has definitely arrived.
I almost disagree. HTC used to have that "YOU" campaign, and advertised the functions of the phone, rather than the specifications. I agree now the dumb DROID phone ads are terrible, but HTC has a good marketing campaign going.
I just bought an HTC phone today
Definitely a different look/feel from the usual Apple commercials. They put you in real situations and give you an idea of how the iPhone 4 and Facetime can be used by you. Makes you want it, even if you didn't before.
Facetime is not new...
Apple is great. Great at taking existing stuff and make them better and more user friendly. Like Facetime.
I live in Sweden and we have had video calling on cellphones (via 3G, not WIFI) for about a decade. But NO ONE USES IT! Why? Not the obvious reasons actually:
1. Awkward to hold the phone in front of you while talking, you can't go around town with your arm straight forward pointing your phone towards your face.
2. People don't like fixing their hair before calling someone
3. Not all friends have a video capable phone
4. It's costs extra per minute
5. 99% of the time it's more convenient to send a MMS of the t-shirt or whatever and then make a regular phone call.
I almost laughed my ass off when Steve Jobs talked about Facetime with tears in his eyes comparing it to Star Trek like it was some kind of future tech. And in the next breath telling me that it will be available over cellular connections later, not now, because it was so ****ing new and futuristic, hahahahahahahah!
Apple is great. Great at taking existing stuff and make them better and more user friendly. Like Facetime.
I live in Sweden and we have had video calling on cellphones (via 3G, not WIFI) for about a decade. But NO ONE USES IT! Why? Not the obvious reasons actually:
1. Awkward to hold the phone in front of you while talking, you can't go around town with your arm straight forward pointing your phone towards your face.
2. People don't like fixing their hair before calling someone
3. Not all friends have a video capable phone
4. It's costs extra per minute
5. 99% of the time it's more convenient to send a MMS of the t-shirt or whatever and then make a regular phone call.
I almost laughed my ass off when Steve Jobs talked about Facetime with tears in his eyes comparing it to Star Trek like it was some kind of future tech. And in the next breath telling me that it will be available over cellular connections later, not now, because it was so ****ing new and futuristic, hahahahahahahah!
I almost disagree. HTC used to have that "YOU" campaign, and advertised the functions of the phone, rather than the specifications. I agree now the dumb DROID phone ads are terrible, but HTC has a good marketing campaign going.
I just bought an HTC phone today
I agree, "YOU" is a brilliant campaign. But it's sensory overload; fast clips of beautiful people doing fun things set to an upbeat score with a voiceover and a fun signature/super at the end.
This is the opposite of that.
The DROID stuff, however...I'm guessing the team on that was chewing a lot of 5 Gum at the time. Oh and listening to a lot of Radiohead.
The way Apple uses teenage girls instead of adults in the ads just seems kind of creepy to me - with the "smile" one, throughout the commercial, I see this older guy trying to get this young, vulnerable girl to smile. It's not until the very end that I hear "Dad." Seems creepy. And the one with the bob hair seems awkward and she's young and vulnerable. Sorry, but these commercials just hesitant to buy MY daughter an iPhone 4.
Although I doubt Apple intended for this, I think these commercials will make parents think twice about buying their daughter an iPhone.
(the commercial with the grandfather is a nice commercial though - great job)
I agree. I'm sorry, but these commercials seem borderline corny to me, and I certainly agree that parodies will arrive within a day or two on Youtube.
Face it. With Face Time, the future is now. ........ 
Although I doubt Apple intended for this, I think these commercials will make parents think twice about buying their daughter an iPhone.
(the commercial with the grandfather is a nice commercial though - great job)
I agree. I'm sorry, but these commercials seem borderline corny to me, and I certainly agree that parodies will arrive within a day or two on Youtube.
Face it. With Face Time, the future is now.
........ 
Watched the first one and vomited from the sickly sweet faux tears of emotional manipulation.
Edit: all caused uncontrollable nausea.
Edit: all caused uncontrollable nausea.
Yeh, like me, you must be British...
...see my earlier comment. Brits don't buy this stuff, even if they will use FaceTime, it will be for less sugary moments. Probably involving alcohol.
...see my earlier comment. Brits don't buy this stuff, even if they will use FaceTime, it will be for less sugary moments. Probably involving alcohol.