Who are these latest Apple ads aimed at? Talk and go on the Internet simultaneously? Who wants that?
I have college aged daughters. They almost never talk to anyone on the phone anymore. It's all about texting. So, the ads aren't for the 30 and under crowd.
Most of the people my age couldn't walk and talk on the phone at the same time, much less talk and do the Internet at the same time. So, the ads aren't for my generation.
Who are these ads for?
As HazyDave pretty much pointed out, it is people who think that is important. However, it isn't necessarily tools.
A good example is what my coworker gave to me when we were talking about this. He was on his patio, away from the computer, when his sister called and needed directions. So he literally was giving her directions while looking at it on his iPhone.
How often does he do that, well, probably more than I would in most cases. What it is aimed at are probably people who have better 'find and show' ability over others.
What AT&T and Verizon are now doing are the "Who's better over who?"
The Motorola Droid started the first shot with Verizon with the "iDon't" commercial here:
[video=youtube;23BhwZ0oqNI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23BhwZ0oqNI[/video]
To add to it, Verizon also started this campaign:
[video=youtube;VZPjJI0K7Bk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZPjJI0K7Bk[/video]
Which targeted AT&T for their 3G Coverage.
One thing to note, when you look at the video for the Map Coverage, this is not the exact map coverage that AT&T shows on their website, but you will see a disclaimer that the map is a representation of coverage based on square footage.
AT&T tried to push a Cease and Desist on the Verizon 3G Coverage ads, however, lost due to the fact that it is not false advertising based on actual result information.
So AT&T's first shot at Verizon was to do this ad:
[video=youtube;4YP839_EF_0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YP839_EF_0[/video]
AT&T Focused on the following points:
1) Fastest 3G Network
2) Talk and Surf at the Same Time
3) Most Popular Smart Phones
4) 100,000 Apps Available
So basically, they want people to go with AT&T because:
1) Verizon does not have the 'fastest' 3G network (Not mentioning the possibility of what some people who have posted here as their reason for leaving, poor coverage)
2) Being able to Talk and browse the internet at the same time (Which currently, Verizon can't support both Voice and Data at the same time)
3) Have the most Popular Smart Phones (Ignoring the one fact that iPhone, given it being the most popular, is exclusive to AT&T due to an agreement between the two)
4) Having access to more apps... (Which, again, is mostly for the iPhone)
Of the 4 reasonably arguable points they brought up, only 1 or 2 had a reasonable merit on a level playing field, namely 1 and 2. Points 3 and 4 are weak because with exclusivity of the iPhone for AT&T, which is a popular smart phone, the Blackberry is also a popular smart phone that is also used by Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile as well.
On the AT&T site, they have the Blackberry, iPhone, and from the looks of it, Windows Mobile based OS. The 100k apps are from the iPhone Apps Store level, which is where the majority of the popularity is, in fact, on the iPhone, the Blackberry 2nd, and the Windows Mobile or 'other' OS. By far, the claim is based mostly on the iPhone for what it provides to the user, which is the most.
Following that, the two more recent iPhone Commercials and the 2nd Luke Wilson AT&T commercial focuses mostly on the 'Talk and Surf at the same time' argument for people to go with the iPhone. While the Droid commercials are focusing on Droid doing a bit more, or focusing on the Navigation which Motorola's Droid model is fueling the current fevor, in my opinion.
Verizon is still sniping at AT&T with the 3G and AT&T is now working on the backlash of those with the current campaign as well as the Verizon's Droid's Viral Marketing for the Motorola Droid launch which is still fueling a lot of the interest in Droid based phones.
T-Mobile and Sprint will be jumping the band wagon with possibly the re-pushing of their Google Phone Ad and the HTC "A phone that gets you" type ads once people realize from the way Verizon Stores displaying both the Motorola Droid right next to the HTC Eris, the possible other Droid based phones that both Sprint and T-Mobile have.
