iPhone Ads Deemed Misleading

The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK isn’t too impressed with one of Apple’s iPhone adverts, specifically the one that claims “all parts of the internet are on the iPhone”, even though the iPhone does not support Flash or Java, which are important parts of the Internet. Apple has argued that the claim referred to the availability of web pages, rather than their specific appearance.

The ruling states: “We noted Apples argument that the ad was about site availability rather than technical detail, but considered that the claims “You’ll never know which part of the internet youll need” and “all parts of the internet are on the iPhone” implied users would be able to access all websites and see them in their entirety. We considered that, because the ad had not explained the limitations, viewers were likely to expect to be able to see all the content on a website normally accessible through a PC rather than just having the ability to reach the website.”