Filed under: Apple, iPhone, App Store
Apple wins fight in U.K. over iPhone v Android claims
The U.K. advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, says Apple is correct when it claims its App Store is better than the Google store for the Android. In a TV ad Apple claimed that the iPhone had apps for "just about anything". Fans of the Google Android, or at least ten of them, complained that their phone offered a similar and equal function.
Apple responded that it made the claim "only on the iPhone" because its App Store "provided users with a unique experience unmatched by any other application marketplace, including the Android Market".
"Because Apple had shown there were far more applications available for the iPhone than the G1 phone, and user experience of the iPhone and the App Store was distinct from its competitor, we concluded that the claim 'only on the iPhone' was justified and not misleading," said the ASA in its ruling.
The Apple App Store has about 50,000 applications, while Google offers about 2,100.
In the past, Apple hasn't done too well with the ASA. In November an iPhone ad was banned for misleading customers about the speed of the phone on the internet. Apple also had to pull ads for its first generation iPhone in August of 2008.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ekivemark said 6:07PM on 7-29-2009
Apple has apps for just about anything.... except Google Voice.
http://ekive.blogspot.com/2009/07/apple-is-entering-appstore-minefield.html
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cloud858rk said 6:18PM on 7-29-2009
Yeah but how many of those 50,000 are crap or junk? Most.
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Mr. Fry said 4:30AM on 7-30-2009
Agreed. Of course the Android marketplace is full of crap too, so I'd bet you they both have a small number of very useful apps, putting them on much more equal footing than the raw number comparison would indicate.
cloud858rk said 5:57AM on 7-30-2009
Very true.
I want to see an Apple commercial were they mention "50,000 apps on the apps store, omg!" and then see in in fine print "But 90% are fart apps".
Trevor said 8:08PM on 7-29-2009
Typos:
"it's App Store" --> "its App Store"
"for it's first generation" --> "for its first generation"
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sockatume said 7:44AM on 7-30-2009
Wow, spin much? Here's how it works:
1) Users complained that "only on iPhone" was misleading, because the same apps could be found on the Android Store, and the Android Store provided the same function.
2) The ASA found that the App Store was distinct enough from the Android Store that users were unlikely to misunderstand what "only on iPhone" meant.
They ASA made no decision about which store was "better".
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Michael said 2:41PM on 10-26-2009
It is misleading. I have encountered a lot of individuals who seem confused, and some even believe that you can't run them on the iPod Touch because of that. "But the commercial says only on the iPhone". It is a blatant lie regardless of which store is better. If Google was making the same claim I would still be upset. I do have some bias towards Apple mainly because they have a number of ads and such saying their stuff is perfect which is is by far from. No system I have ever encountered was perfect nor will it ever be. Besides they should spend less on their ads and more on fixing their XCode environment which still to this day will randomly eat perfectly good signature files, and give you no helpful error messages when uploading the new binaries. I will say that slowly most of my apps are becoming Android specific, and at one point I can make the valid claim "only on Android".
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