Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, iPhone
Calling John Appleseed...
Do you get the sense that Apple goofed up a bit while rushing out the iPhone activation videos? It's not just the 80GB iPhone. Aren't all fake numbers supposed to start with a 555? Anyway, yes, this is the same phone number for John Appleseed that was in the iPhone preview video from last Friday. And, yes, I did give the number a call to see what would happen thinking it would connect me to an Apple/AT&T ad. Instead, I heard "The mailbox for number 408-550-3542 is full and cannot accept new messages at this time. Please try again later."
I also dropped John Appleseed a note at his dotMac account, but he didn't reply to that either.
Update: Just called again. This time I got the message "Hello, you've reached the brand new iPhone of John Appleseed." He invited me to visit Apple.com. After, a standard-sounding voicemail prompt instructed me to record my message after the tone.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Johnny Appleseed said 4:20PM on 6-26-2007
Don't think it was fake reagarding the 80GB. Remember when we saw a video that showed the bottom row of widgets filled up; eventually there was confirmation from apple that there was an extra widget--youtube.
The 80GB may be for a future version of the iphone with a hard drive...stay tuned.
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Cycomachead said 4:18PM on 6-26-2007
yeah it felt goofed up.
There was also the new blue itunes interface (in the sidebar) and the Wedding Crashers video which was not available through the iTMS.
I also tried logging in to John Appleseed's account - the password that was typed looked like it spelt appleseed. Oh it didn't work, but I'm gonna try later.
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Johnny Appleseed said 4:27PM on 6-26-2007
Ah yes...but they also fixed the prior videos that accidentally showed the extra widget (youtube).
When a company spends millions of dollars marketing and developing a product, we don't make mistakes like this easily. Either way, there'll be speculation in the months/days ahead. Only time will tell.
Marketing strategy or honest mistake? Let the excitement begin. It's the stuff we loose sleep over.
Cheers.
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Exilio said 4:30PM on 6-26-2007
Or maybe Apple used an iPod 80GB flavor to simulate the syncing of an iPhone.
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Ryan said 4:32PM on 6-26-2007
An iphone with an 80 gig hard drive, now that might be a hefty phone size and weight wise.
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Eric said 4:57PM on 6-26-2007
According to SuperPages.com, 408-550-3542 is a landline in San Jose, CA. Service Provider is Pac - West Telecomm. If this is correct, that error message is pretty odd for this situation (because landlines don't have voicemail, or at least mine doesn't).
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John Doe said 5:36PM on 6-26-2007
you can get voicemail for landlines, or you can have an answering machine
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mike said 6:09PM on 6-26-2007
I think it wasn't a precursor to anything.
Take a look at the rate plan screen and it says you get 1500 minutes instead of 200 for that $59.99 + 20. Also, parts of the interface are in Myriad instead of the normal system Lucida font. And the screen zooms in and out very smoothly. Also also, in parts of the screen, it says a little less that 8 gigs of memory.
I think they made a custom program to demonstrate the activation process, maybe in Quartz composer or something, and someone just got a little careless.
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Alex said 6:44PM on 6-26-2007
I just downloaded the movie (large size) and found nothing of the 80 GB footage whatsoever. Maybe they updated it?
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Mayank Gupta said 7:11PM on 6-26-2007
whoever said that they can't see the 80 gb thing is right. apple changed the video. they actually added a part that wasn't there before. it now tells you that "the bar on the bottom shows you how much space is left" and it no longer says 78 or whatever. i think it IS a movie or something, not actually itunes and someone just made a bug. oopsies. unfortunately i deleted my downloaded video already.
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Eric said 7:32PM on 6-26-2007
i just called in from stuttgart, germany 01:23h (german time) it said:
hi, i´m john appleseed...visit apple.com.
so?
i´ve been there already!
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AK said 8:09PM on 6-26-2007
The poor lady at 405-550-3542 seems really annoyed that I was in turn - disappointed that she wasn't John Appleseed. Don't call her!
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Johnny Appleseed said 11:07PM on 6-26-2007
yes mike. I have a screenshot of those 1500 messages, with a total plan costing $79 for unlimited data, 1500 text messages, and unlimited data. I guess they decided to squeeze some more money from us.
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Karim said 11:39PM on 6-26-2007
> Strange that NANPA shows that 408 is a
> suspended are code.
They also show it's in jeopardy (in danger of running out of phone numbers) and that relief planning (overlay, split, rationing) is in progress. (The split is 831.)
The 408 NPA went into service in 1959, so that's at least a plausible explanation.
Probably someone's real phone number :-)
[Neo opens the FedEx envelope and dumps out the contents: a brand new iPhone. He stares at it in amazement. Then the phone rings.]
[The caller ID reads "John Appleseed"]
[Neo touches the screen to answer the call]
NEO: Hello?
JOBS: Do you know who this is?
NEO: [nervously] Steve Jobs?
JOBS: Yes, I've been looking for you, Neo. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately you and I have run out of time. They're coming for you, Neo, and I don't know what they're going to do.
NEO: Who's coming for me?
JOBS: Stand up and see for yourself.
[Neo peeks above the cube, sees "the PC Guy" from the "Get a Mac" commercials at the far end of the office.]
[Neo swears under his breath, ducks down]
JOBS: Yes.
NEO: How do I get out of here?
JOBS: Well, fortunately, this phone has Google Maps built-in....
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Sune Beck said 12:22AM on 6-28-2007
It has now been defaced.
http://digg.com/apple/John_Appleseed_s_Mailbox_HACKED_Audio_recording
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