Filed under: iPhone
British ad watchdogs nix iPhone "whole internet" claim
What is the "whole internet," anyway? Is it a place you can go, or is it really just an idea? Can you put it in your pants? Apparently not, if the UK's Advertising Standards Authority's point of view is to be taken as gospel. Complaints to the oversight agency by British consumers who were dissatisfied with the Apple claim of the "whole internet" on the iPhone have now resulted in a ruling: Apple ads in Britain that say "all the parts of the internet are on the phone" need to be pulled off the air, according to a BBC report.The reasoning behind this order is fascinating: the iPhone can't be said to bring users the entire internet because it doesn't support... wait for it... yes, Flash and Java. Goodness me. Not that Apple's iPhone ads are free from controversy in the 3G era, but I don't recall any of the ads for the current iPhone making the specific "whole internet" claims -- although the spots for the original version did say something like that. If anyone can point to a specifc ad that's raising the ire of the ASA, please do let us know.
Thanks to Grant, Martin & Richard for sending this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Daniel said 3:45AM on 8-27-2008
I think that's stupid. It's like saying macs don't have the 'whole Internet' just because they don't currently support Microsoft's silverlight.
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Guy said 3:50AM on 8-27-2008
Except they do support Silverlight......
Daniel said 4:00AM on 8-27-2008
oh sorry, that was just an example off the top of my head. I've never really tried to install it. Bad example, but my point is that just because it doesn't support one program, it can't be considered "not the full Internet"
Dan said 4:05AM on 8-27-2008
Siverlight is only really supported if you have an intel Mac. If you tried to watch any of the Olympics using Silverlight on a PowerPC Mac you would get an error screen stating that you need Silverlight and an intel based Mac.
Daniel said 4:17AM on 8-27-2008
Ya I have a PowerPc and I was pretty sure that I couldn't install silverlight. Thanks for clearing that up.
talha said 10:06AM on 8-27-2008
Hmm ??? we are talking about iphone "ad" not mac ad. hang on min !!! this ad so stupid bcoz mac or not even pc never claimed nor boardcasted such message.
FredThePanda said 8:01AM on 8-28-2008
I know this is a blog dedicated to all things Apple but i think sometimes it's best to take off the rose tinted glasses.
I challenge anyone here to read TUAW, Joystiq and Engadget on their iPhone or Touch and see how much of the content has that lil grey box that goes where the flash video should be. It's alot.
It's also worth noting that the ASA is an Industry body so it has no Government links, it's run by the advertising business with their own money to protect themselves from the Government setting up their own board that is a lot stricter or even biased to certain groups.
You can however always poo poo this and just say "zo0q, the AS$a is teh biaz3d" as they didn't make ms take down an ad that they never made that contains a statement that they've never said....
Remember folks flash doesn't come with any browser out the box, that's why it's a plug in
RichardR said 3:58AM on 8-27-2008
Someone needs to teach this guy a lesson, I NEVER have flash or javascript enabled when I surf the web, all flash is now is for animated ads and when was the last time I saw java on a webpage?.
The iPhone Safari looks and works the same as shrinking my safari window down really small and zooming out!
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talha said 9:12PM on 8-27-2008
so you never watched youtube??? learn bout internet mate, or learn how to lie.
Tagbert said 10:20AM on 8-27-2008
Don't confuse Java with JavaScript. Completely different things. Java has been used to create applets that are sort of like flash objects on the page. Now is is mainly used on the server-side. JavaScript is used to provide ajax-style dynamics on a page and little things like where you click on "new reader" or "returning" when posting comments on this blog.
Javier said 12:33PM on 8-27-2008
I agree with ARA. I dont know the exact proportion of websites embedding flash but it is big. I can not surf the web with the iphone the same way i do it with Safari. Lot of websites embed movies in flash, Google Analytics is useless without flash, etc.
You can argue from a technical point of view what is the whole Internet, but at the end of the day there is a lot of websites that users can not visit from the iphone because of the lack of Flash and Java.
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Michael Rose said 4:05AM on 8-27-2008
I should have noted in the post (but it's late, and I'm not thinking clearly) --
Microsoft Windows XP doesn't ship with Java (or Flash, for that matter). Is IE 7 not a tool for accessing "the whole internet"?
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Matthew said 4:26AM on 8-27-2008
But you can install them on IE7, which you can't do on the iPhone
losty. said 4:31AM on 8-27-2008
Is it not the point though that IE7 can and does support Java/Flash even if you have to install additional software...
The iphone, you just can't.
Kelmon said 7:02AM on 8-27-2008
The important point here is that Microsoft, to my knowledge, isn't advertising IE7 as being able to browse the whole internet. The fact of the matter is that Apple did and the iPhone can't. It's an open-and-shut case and the marketing department responsible for making the claim should be smacked around the head.
If they'd said that the iPhone has the best mobile browser, or gives you access to more of the internet than other phones, then they probably would have been OK.
Matthew said 4:23AM on 8-27-2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2008/aug/27/apple.advertising
and although it doesn't say the whole internet, this one says the internet isn't a watered down version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBZU7Alv6p8&feature=related
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Thom said 4:48AM on 8-27-2008
Here is the link to the relevant ASA page:
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_44891.htm
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Scotty said 4:33AM on 8-27-2008
This is just a little mischief making....
In the UK one complainer can get an advert, tv show or movie banned, fines handed out etc.
Pretty draconian, but on the other hand saves us from unreasonable claims and hyperbole.
Anyway, when is Flash coming to my iPhone?
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Taylor said 4:46AM on 8-27-2008
Same thing in Australia.
I remember there was one time where an ad for a local insurance company made references to Indian call centers, in a humorous and non-offensive way (the customers asks to meet the call centre operator at "the new deli down the road", and the operator says he lives in New Delhi and would love to meet for a curry and a poppadom.) One Indian cab driver complained. Ad off the air.
Off topic, but still.
Graham Stevens said 5:57AM on 8-27-2008
In fact there were 2 registered complaints about this one.
hmm.. Digging deeper it appears the complaints were from a Mr W Gates and Mr S Balmer, whoever they maybe? ;)