Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone
Pre ad is to iPhone ad as dude is to lady in Aerosmith song of the same name
What can I say? White background, disembodied finger and digi-creepy stillness of the device... the Bell [Canada] version of an ad for the Palm Pre looks hilariously like an iPhone ad. View the videos and judge for yourself. Then get a Pre if you are compelled to do so. It has maps and Twitter and you can touch and rotate and slide it.
Bell version
and an iPhone ad
Spooky, isn't it? Of course, there are only so many ways to illustrate the feature set of a multi-touch smartphone, aren't there? It's like when Newhart was sued by the guy who also wrote a handyman book. There are, in fact, only so many ways to explain how to nail a nail, Dick explains. Lucky us, all smartphone ads will now follow this format, making it much easier to determine which phone is best for us. Thanks, Bell!
[thanks to Philip Lam for the tip!]
Bell/Pre ad with iPhone audio
Bell version
and an iPhone ad
Spooky, isn't it? Of course, there are only so many ways to illustrate the feature set of a multi-touch smartphone, aren't there? It's like when Newhart was sued by the guy who also wrote a handyman book. There are, in fact, only so many ways to explain how to nail a nail, Dick explains. Lucky us, all smartphone ads will now follow this format, making it much easier to determine which phone is best for us. Thanks, Bell!
[thanks to Philip Lam for the tip!]
Update: And here's an iPhone ad's audio on top of the Bell/Pre ad. Note the flow and that "how cool is that?" pops up at a cosmically opportune moment.
Bell/Pre ad with iPhone audio
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mark said 1:52AM on 8-21-2009
Yawn. Is the pre dead yet? Okay I'll give it one more month to go the way of the dodo.
Reply
Joel Purvis said 6:42AM on 8-21-2009
Sprint has stated the Pre is the biggest selling smartphone they've ever had. Next month the Pre app catalog is opening to paid apps. Verizon has stated it will carry the Pre early next year. Two new GSM versions have just been certified, a European and a North American, meaning it will almost certainly come to AT&T in the US as well.
It's going to be a long month for you.
Personally I much prefer a physical keyboard and being able to run multiple apps. I find it hard to go back to using my iPod touch. If you prefer the iPhone, more power to you. The iPhone is a fantastic phone. I don't understand why people don't want choice, or why they don't seem to understand that competition improves all products.
Josh Rosen said 2:17AM on 8-21-2009
Not to mention the indie music in the background. That's become Steve's signature.
Reply
Kevin said 3:23AM on 8-21-2009
I'm sure the Pre is a nice device. But it isn't an iPhone. There, I said it.
Reply
Guess_Who said 4:00AM on 8-21-2009
Personally I'm much more interested in the Pre than the iPhone, if only because I already own an iPod touch and feel an iPhone would be redundant.
Reply
mark said 5:21AM on 8-21-2009
So, you'd rather buy an inferior device than a redundant one? And you think that's logical? LOL.
Biomech said 12:29PM on 8-21-2009
mark, do you own a Pre? You can't say that until you've spent a good while using a Pre and then using an iPhone to compare the two.
Why do some Apple fans have to make themselves looks like such douches, honestly. The iPhone is clearly the best, we all know that and there's no denying it. But some Apple fans have to be complete asshats about that fact and they're the ones that put the bad image on Apple and its customers. Sometimes I feel ashamed to own any Apple products because I have to be in the same group as idiots like this.
For the love of everything, grow up and stop making such pointless comments.
Joel Purvis said 6:34AM on 8-21-2009
I think you totally missed the point of this commercial. It's somewhat of a parody. It's supposed to look like an iPhone ad, up until he says "but it doesn't stop there". At that point he points out the advantages the Pre has over the iPhone; physical keyboard, multiple apps.
Reply
julian said 9:07PM on 8-21-2009
great point.
Still, I cant help to think its just a rip off.
Joel Purvis said 9:58PM on 8-21-2009
Than how is it a great point? Either it's a rip off or a parody. "Gee, Those SNL skits about Sarah Palin are great! Tina Fey looks just like Sarah Palin! Still, I can't help feeling Tina Fey is just ripping off Sarah Palin..."
George said 6:47AM on 8-21-2009
Physical keyboard? How does that work for when you swing it around in landscape mode? LOL
Reply
Ryan Trevisol said 8:20AM on 8-21-2009
Well after about a month, most Pres start to twist like an oreo. Everyone's chalking it up to inferior build quality. Maybe it's a feature.
Now this Pre ad is interesting. Don't most iPhone commercials close with "...the iPhone, only from Apple."? And this Pre ad said the same thing verbatim, except with "Pre" and "Bell" in there.
In any event, I'd prefer some cheeky copying to those LSD-induced Tamara Hope nightmares.
Joel Purvis said 8:52AM on 8-21-2009
You're right. The physical keyboard is only useful in portrait mode. It is so hard to turn the phone to landscape mode to type that the only possible form factor is an on screen virtual keyboard that obscures most of what I'm trying to look at in landscape mode anyway.
And most Pres don't start to "twist like an Oreo". There was a small amount of the first batch of Pres that had an issue with screen wobbling, and one documented to twist like that. Those issues have not been seen in any but the launch units and those units can be replaced under warranty.
samu said 6:50AM on 8-21-2009
I got the impression that the resemblance was deliberate, designed to implicitly highlight things like multitasking and the physical keyboard which the iPhone lacks. (The rotation seemed a lot smoother, too, though whether that's just in adworld is hard to tell.)
I hope that Android and the Pre do get to the point of offering viable alternatives; I want choice, and it'd hopefully help rein in some of Apple's grubbier control freakery.
Reply
Hank said 9:05AM on 8-21-2009
I used to be a big Palm fan, but the Pre is just ugly. I'm sure it's a good smartphone, but it's just too...Fisher Price.
As to the ad, at least it's better than those creepy ads with the airheaded woman that acts like she's filming some sort of cult indoctrination video. Ick. Can't imagine how many martinis must have been at the lunch before the meeting that approved those.
Reply
Sean Flanagan said 9:23AM on 8-21-2009
I'd rather them parody Apple than continue to show those godawful commercials with that creepy, glowing, albino woman talking nonsense.
Reply
Victor Agreda, Jr. said 9:28AM on 8-21-2009
Oh I'll have to agree with you there. I thought we weren't supposed to obey the Ice Queen.
Dave M. said 10:55AM on 8-21-2009
Amen! I don't know what they were thinking with those ads. They freak me out. I would never buy a Pre if those were the only ads I ever saw for the phone.
Jim said 9:52AM on 8-21-2009
Thx, Joel, you saved me from typing the no brainer comment!
Reply
roberto said 9:52AM on 8-21-2009
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. LMAO
Reply