I just saw an iPhone ad for the first time on TV. It during a segment of CBS’ 60 Minutes show.
I see from Apple’s site that there are three iPhone commercials that they are running. I saw the one titled “How to.”
My impression? Nice and simple. The ads don’t have the “sparkle” of the iPod campaign or the “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC” commercials, but nonetheless the ads work well.
They get across the fact that the phones are supposed to be simple to use. And just work. Whether they achieve this the market will decide.
One other thing that struck me was how the Tablet PCs and UMPCs have missed out on campaigns such as this. Now maybe you could argue that Tablet PCs and UMPCs haven’t been packaged (both in terms of hardware and software) at a level sufficient to justify a campaign such as this. Early on this was probably true. Although, all along it would have been quite acceptable to present ads that inspire people to try out Tablets/UMPCs. In actuality, Microsoft has done just this–although not in the form of classic TV ads. Microsoft often gets its messages across through its partners (both big and small case ‘p’). Who’s to say which approach is right or wrong. They’re just different. Nonetheless, when you see a company, such as Apple, use one media so well it gets you to thinking.