Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
...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.

then one would suggest YOU make a competitive commercial showing us what works. these commercials are very realistic and well played out. people go to barbers. people have babies!!! whats not real is Captain crunch popping out of your cereal every morning. whats not real is that dominos commercial. thats just a fraction of the outlandish, obnoxious, fake commercials which you seem to fail to address and in fact seem to favor. HA! the things you do with facetime is your choice so boohoo if they do not show scenarios that align with your little world but these are legitimate. you better be one heck of a director or Actor SON!!!!!!!!!!! nobody like a critic. nobody like a downer. however, people can appreciate those who defend others. LAWL.......
 
Is it me or is the haircut one a little too stereotypical? The female is almost asking for permission to like her new haircut from the husband/boyfriend.

Am I the only one who got that feeling?

It's funny that my aunt used facetime( on my iPhone) to show her haircut to her friends at home. Then 2 hours later I saw this ad. People always say that I'm a walking Apple commercial. Now I think they're right.
 
just 2 minor complaints:
1) in all the commercials the phone is held wrong and yet it dose not louse signal or wifi :D
2) face time dose not work that good,it kinda lags most of the time it`s never that smooth.
But a ad is a ad, the acting was not that bad and the concept is very nice, showing exactly what it was made for ( face expressions , and sharing moments with loved ones).
 
Very cool ads....

They show the 30 seconds after the two parties spent 2 hours on the phone trying to explain to the "non-technical person on the other side" how to select the correct wifi for their location and find/enter the wifi key into their iPhone; after already having selected the neighbors wifi by mistake and typing the password in incorrectly for previous hour or two...

.... or perhaps a better scenario of the "big news" where the wife calls and says, "you alone? Got some big news for you! Switch to facetime!". So then he scrambles in the hotel to get the wifi on his phone to work but after entering all the correct information realizes that it's connected but not doing anything! So then he has to call the hotel main desk, ask why it's not working, and then they tell him he has to try to browse the web and enter his room information first before the wifi will accept him. So the he says, "Baby, I'll call you right back... " and he goes to safari on the iPhone, tries to google something so that it asks him the information.... and bam, it now asks him the information for the room number, last name, and hits some 'accept terms' check box..... and then calls his wife back and says, "Ok babe, I'm ready!".... and now the kids are home and everyone's screaming and she says, "I'll call you later tonight, everyone's over right now..." SO now the dude gets to speculate for the next several hours as to what's going on ... is it a promotion? Is she pregnant? Did she blow a bunch of cash on a spending spree? ........ And the joys continue with Facetime (tm).
 
actually think they are very striking ads. I haven't seen one on TV yet, but it seems like it would really catch your eye.

arn

Agreed.

They seem genuine, compelling, and not 'overdone.'

Having no music track also helps in bringing this out.
 
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 totally agree. Same thing in Denmark. Mobile video chat was never a viable idea. It's a novelty item. Having it restricted to WI-FI makes it even less usable (if such a thing is possible).

The simple fact is that people prefer to talk on the phone off camera.
 
357fx39.jpg
y. IMHO :)

But, I do like Big News.


they should do some more common uses, such as.
hey man, i'm at a concert. which t-shirt do you want me to get you?
what are the options?
i'll show you.
facetimeeeeeeeeeee.

+1 But apple is reaching for the 20+ crowd.
 
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!


It's not available on cellular networks because it will likely bring many networks to a screeching halt and be QUITE unreliable quality wise.

There's always a small country, or small number of devices, that have had some feature, somewhere, for a decade. And it was likely poorly implemented, poor quality, and in the case of video calling, EXPENSIVE.

FaceTime is going to make video calling on handheld mobile devices mainstream. And it all starts with VERY easy to use video calling, with fantastic quality, on the world's most famous phone. That translates to video calling finally becoming a reality for *millions* of people, quite soon.


I totally agree. Same thing in Denmark. Mobile video chat was never a viable idea. It's a novelty item. Having it restricted to WI-FI makes it even less usable (if such a thing is possible).

The simple fact is that people prefer to talk on the phone off camera.


That's like saying a webcam is a novelty item. It isn't. People use them every day. Millions of people. Over WI-FI. With FaceTime, it's now mobile.

People are going to use this in the exact same way they use webcams. And when cellular networks allow it, they're going to do it everywhere.


This idea that every call on an iPhone 4 or (future) iPod Touch will suddenly be a video call is IMO incorrect.


Phone calls will remain phone calls. Video chats will remain video chats.
 
Mobile video chat was never a viable idea. It's a novelty item.
Neither were Tablet PCs, before now.

With the expansion of Wi-Fi networks and city-wide hot spots, usability is on the upswing.

I've been using FaceTime for over two weeks now, and prefer it to Skype and iChat - the easy access, dual cameras, and hi-def bring it to a new level.
 
I'm probs not the 1st person to say it, but in that top picture, the guys holding the phone wrong, its covering the bottom left hand side, how on earth is he gonna get any signal :p
 
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!


Same with the UK... It must have been 5 years ago I had a phone that could do video calling over 3G so it's hardly revolutionary that I can now video call but only if someone else has got the same phone thats hard to get hold of and also I need to be somewhere with wifi too.

Never really used video calling back then and can't see anything will change this time round really
 
I'm probs not the 1st person to say it, but in that top picture, the guys holding the phone wrong, its covering the bottom left hand side, how on earth is he gonna get any signal :p

I hold it this way all the time, without any loss of signal.

It seems Apple has quietly remedied the problem. (possibly a non-conductive coating on the antenna)
 
Genius ad-campaign. For the mass public.

For the non-conformists, this series will seem dubious.
 
I miss Mac and PC.

What's happened to Apple PR department? They are being dictated by CRYING WOMEN thinking the only way to sell iPhone 4 is making people cry on FaceTime?

I WANT JUSTIN AND JOHN back.
 
That's like saying a webcam is a novelty item. It isn't. People use them every day. Millions of people. With FaceTime, it's now mobile.

People are going to use this in the exact same way they use webcams. And when cellular networks allow it, they're going to do it everywhere.

A million people using webcams is less than 0.1 % of the population.

I don't think webcams are as widely used as you think they are.

Anyway, let's talk in a year :)
 
in the uk i saw an add w/ a woman sharing her sonogram with her partner overseas (maybe a soldier?) seriously, whose ob/gyn has wifi?
 
Same with the UK... It must have been 5 years ago I had a phone that could do video calling over 3G so it's hardly revolutionary that I can now video call but only if someone else has got the same phone thats hard to get hold of and also I need to be somewhere with wifi too.

Never really used video calling back then and can't see anything will change this time round really


Let's revisit this statement 12 months, and tens of millions of FaceTime capable mobile device sales later.

It's going mainstream.



A million people using webcams is less than 0.1 % of the population.

I don't think webcams are as widely used as you think they are.

Anyway, let's talk in a year :)

I said millions. Not A million.

Webcams are widely used.
 
...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.

Probably any technology, such as FaceTime, that highlights the teeth does not play well in England. ;)

...and we all know of the The Big Book of British Smiles

simpsons.jpg


smiles.jpg
 
just 2 minor complaints:
1) in all the commercials the phone is held wrong and yet it dose not louse signal or wifi :D
2) face time dose not work that good,it kinda lags most of the time it`s never that smooth.
But a ad is a ad, the acting was not that bad and the concept is very nice, showing exactly what it was made for ( face expressions , and sharing moments with loved ones).

1) Holding it wrong doesn't affect wifi for me.... does it really for other people?

2) It doesn't lag for me, do you have a naff router?
 
Let's revisit this statement 12 months, and tens of millions of FaceTime capable mobile device sales later.

It's going mainstream.

Oh, no it isn't.

I wish I knew someone in real life who believes this. I have to ask around. I feel a small wager coming on :)

Webcams are widely used

What do you base this opinion on?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.