iPhone turns 5 years old - 10 of the best iPhone commercials
Introducing the commercials
Apple has a unique talent. Sure, Tim Cook's company makes some of the best hardware on the planet (as well as some truly glorious software to go with it), but that's not what we're focusing on today.
We're actually talking about the Cupertino company's gift for repeatedly producing exciting, informative, and entertaining TV advertisements for its new gizmos. Over and over again.
Since the iPhone is celebrating its 5th birthday today, we thought we'd scour the web (mostly YouTube) and pick ten of our favourite ads from the smartphone's relatively short lifetime. Enjoy them. We certainly did.
Introducing the iPhone
All the way back in 2007, Apple's first-gen iPhone said "hello" to the world in a commercial that aired during that year's Oscars.
The short video showed a bunch of famous actors from a bunch of famous movies picking up their phones and saying "hello". Simples.
Introducing the iPhone 3G
A year later, Apple advertised the next iteration of its über-popular smartphone through this short and sweet commercial, which dubbed the iPhone 3G as the "first phone to beat the iPhone". It's hard to disagree.
There's an app for that
There really is an app for almost anything.
This commercial from 2009 highlighted the fact that you can complete almost any chore, solve almost any problem, or just have a little fun by visiting the App Store on your iPhone and installing one of these application thingies. It'll never catch on.
Introducing the iPhone 3GS
"It's the iPhone you love... now with video", Apple's iPhone 3GS ad boasted.
Introducing the iPhone 4
Apple's first iPhone 4 ad made an unsurprisingly big deal of one of the smartphone's major new features: FaceTime.
Apple didn't invent video calling, but it definitely created one of the best commercials for it.
Retina display on show
Apple managed to convince us all that the Retina display found on the iPhone 4 was a must-have piece of tech. How? By promising us that "every freckle, every wrinkle, every letter, every word, every tweet, tune, battle, and memory looks more beautiful than ever before". Who said I have wrinkles?! Who?!
Get your Game Center on
Apple used its "if you don't have an iPhone (... you are nothing, dagnabbit!!)" campaign to highlight the fact its platform contained the "largest selection of games on any phone". Oh, and Game Center - its mobile social gaming network.
Two is better than one
When the iPhone 4 managed to shake off the shackles of US carrier AT&T and make its way over to Verizon, Apple celebrated with a Waltz.
Introducing the iPhone 4S
For the iPhone 4S, Apple - once again - chose to play up a single new "revolutionary" feature in its first TV commercial. That time around, it was Siri: the iPhone 4S's intelligent (and occasionally mouthy) virtual PA.
Siri loves celebrities
To fully flaunt the capabilities of its personal assistant Siri, Apple called in the big guns.
Thus, The Big A ran a series of star-studded commercials, which followed Samuel L. Jackson as he planned a "date night" with his wife, Zooey Deschanel as she attempted to salvage a rainy day, and John Malkovich as he pondered the meaning of life. I still think it's 42.
