Marketing

Apple fined $2.29 million over “4G” iPad claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Apple has bent the truth by advertising its iPad in Australia as having "4G" capability, thus misleading would-be buyers. For that, Cupertino has now been fined a whopping $2.29 million, Associated Press reports.

The case was brought by regulators shortly following the iPad's release in Australia, when the company began advertising the tablet as "iPad with WiFi + 4G" though it cannot connect to Australia's fourth-generation LTE network. Apple will also have to pay 300,000 Australian dollars in litigation costs...

Schiller on app discovery, Passbook not being a direct payment product

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

Phil Schiller, senior vice president of all marketing at Apple, talked to The Wall Street Journal yesterday about the app ecosystem, how the upcoming iOS 6 mobile operating system helps third-party developers get better exposure for their software and why Apple's brand new app called Passbook is not meant to become a full-blown mobile payment solution...

Apple’s marketing boss Phil Schiller profiled as Mini-Me and Dr. No

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 8, 2012

Bloomberg Businessweek ran an interesting profile of Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller who after CEO Tim Cook is said to be under tremendous pressure to fill the void following Steve Jobs' passing last October.

In a way, he is in charge of what's known as the world's greatest marketing machine. Schiller, 52, controls a $1 billion global advertising budget and is responsible for Apple's 180-degree turn with new celebrity commercials.

He "has the daunting task of keeping Apple cool" and is very well aware that "he’ll get more than his fair share of blame if the new products aren’t hits"...

Here’s Siri telling John Malkovich a really dirty joke

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 25, 2012

So, the new Siri advertisements starring John Malkovich. At the end of one of the ads, the actor asks Siri to tell a joke. She comes up with a line that's long in the tooth, giving him the "two iPhones walk into a bar..." routine. What's that? Not funny, you say? Didn't crack me up either. There's a better version...

App Store launches Free App of the Week and Editors’ Choice promos

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

Not to be outdone by indie devs' massive game sale, Apple has launched a pair of prominently advertised promotions on both the App Store and the Mac App Store, in time for your extended Memorial Day weekend. The new Editors' Choice section offers great apps for both iOS and Mac platforms cherry-picked by Apple's iTunes team.

Also, Cupertino (finally) pulled an Amazon with the other section, giving away one free app every week, starting today...

ABC rips off Apple’s famed ’1984’ advert to hype up dumb singing contest

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2012

The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) has ripped off Apple’s famous advert dubbed 1984 in a cheapskate attempt to promote its upcoming new singing show called Duets (I know, don’t start).

Alluding to George Orwell's 1984 novel, ABC's cheesy commercial blatantly copies Apple’s down to a lookalike of an unnamed heroine in white tank top that represented the coming of the Macintosh.

Instead of throwing a large brass-headed hammer to smash a televised Big Brother, in ABC’s version an Olympic track and field athlete hurls a stage microphone at the big screen. Upon impact, the curtain falls down to reveal the familiar-looking set as the audience rises to a standing ovation...

Samsung posts first Galaxy S III advert, 100 percent devoid of Apple bashing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

South Korea-headquartered Samsung, now the top smartphone and cell phone vendor in the world, just posted on its YouTube channel the first official advertising for its latest would-be iPhone-killer, the flagship Galaxy S III handset unveiled less than two weeks ago.

Unlike last year's Samsunged campaign, this high-profile advert is free of any direct or implied Apple spoofing. Even though it does ignore some pretty important marketing basics, the commercial is kinda cool (if I wanted to be cynical about it, I'd call it a typical agency bulls**t).

If anything, one's gotta appreciate Samsung's focus on establishing an emotional connection with the viewer in a manner that resembles Apple's Siri advertising. Have a look and tell us whether this Galaxy commercial is a match for the world's greatest marketing machine...

Another anti-IBM footage unearthed, featuring Jobs cameo in ‘Ghostbusters’ spoof

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 10, 2012

Remember Apple's '1994' corporate video with Jobs impersonating Franklin Delano Roosevelt we told you about last week? Apparently, not everyone liked it so here's a different one from the depths of the web archives, also sporting brief Jobs cameo appearance.

Just like the '1994' clip, it's aimed squarely at Apple's arch-enemy in the early days, the almighty IBM. Dubbed 'Blue Busters' and dating back to 1984, this four-minute footage was shown at the same worldwide sales staff meeting in Hawaii in October 1984 like the '1994' clip...

T-Mobile ad disses the iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As T-Mobile USA is getting ready to roll out an iPhone-compatible HSPA+ 19000 MHz network later this year (they already host more than a million iPhones on their network), the long overdue iPhone-friendly network expansion isn't stopping them to take potshots at Apple's smartphone and rival AT&T.

Their latest commercial, a part of the broader campaign dubbed 'Alter Ego', likens the speed of an iPhone 4S on the AT&T network to an ordinary motorcycle, which gets overtaken in a blink of a second by a badass 1000cc Ducati motorcycle....

RIM: “you don’t just think different, you do different”

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 17, 2017

Risking to be called out as a fanboy, I just can't help noticing the new lows Research In Motion sank to. The staged 'Wake Up' protest?

Well, that silly campaign has now culminated with more of the same, as if this whole anti-Apple nonsense was going to do the company's declining BlackBerry biz any good.

Canada-based RIM, which recently unveiled its new BlackBerry 10 OS, set up a new website that invites business people to "wake up and be bold".

But the embattled BlackBerry maker, once a mighty smartphone brand, couldn't refrain from taking potshots at Apple, saying in the crawl on the website that "you don't just think different, you do different".

It's no surprise that indirect Apple bashing is now official strategy at RIM. What surprises me is that nobody on the executive team realized it wouldn't work.

RIM's clueless, man. They're done for, but just don't know it yet...

Galaxy S III is cool, but official advert ignores marketing basics

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As you've no doubt heard by now, Samsung has challenged Apple's smartphone dominance with yesterday's introduction of the third-generation Galaxy S smartphone at the Unpacked event in London.

Featuring an incremental bump up in specs and a host of software enhancements, you'd assume Samsung's marketing folks would proudly show off the device in official advertising.

Not so fast. A side-by-side comparison of the iPhone 4S and Galaxy S III commercials indicates Sammy's got a whole lot of learning to do: their 60-second advert features the flagship handset three times less frequently than Apple's commercial...

New evidence suggests RIM behind Wake Up stunt

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Last week's childish Wake Up protest outside Apple's retail outlet in Sydney has really infuriated fans of Apple as well as a bunch of observers - yours truly included - who pointed the finger of blame at Samsung on shady clues.

While the South Korean conglomerate denied organizing the flashmob-style stunt, coincidental evidence and the ambiguous official wording have left room for some speculation.

New strong pieces of evidence that surfaced last week link the campaign to the embattled BlackBerry maker, Canada-based Research In Motion, as part of their upcoming BlackBerry OS 10 launch on Wednesday. Who knew, right?