New Verizon ad mocks Apple, AT&T: 'There's a map for that'
Apple's iPhone advertisements have famously touted that "There's an app for that," concluding in the end that there is "an app for just about anything." In its latest TV spot, Verizon Wireless parodies Apple's tag line while criticizing the 3G coverage of the next-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., and the exclusive provider of the iPhone, AT&T.
"If you want to know why your 3G coverage works so well on Verizon Wireless," the commercial's voiceover says as a Verizon customer uses his phone, "there's a map for that."
The real punchline of the commercial, though, is when it directly takes on AT&T, and compares Verizon's coverage map.
"If you want to know why some people have spotty 3G coverage," the ad notes as an AT&T customer crosses his path, "there's a map for that too."
As competition begins to heat up between Verizon and AT&T, the nation's largest wireless carrier has also scheduled a press conference Tuesday with Google, presumably to announce its first Android-powered phone.
Earlier this year, Apple came under fire for its App Store advertisement claims in the U.K, when a handful of users complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the claim that there is an app for anything. Specifically, users believed that the Android Marketplace also offered a range of applications, just like the iPhone. But after it reviewed the case, the ASA sided with Apple and declared that its slogan was justifiable.
But Apple didn't fare as well in a complaint over advertisements in which the company said that "all parts of the Internet are on the iPhone. In that 2008 decision, the ASA ruled that the commercials were misleading because the iPhone does not support Flash or Java, two proprietary technologies that sometimes prove integral in the display of certain Web pages.
120 Comments
Yep, that pretty much says it all. Remember when everyone complained because the iPhone wasn't 3G? ATT wasn't ready.
Nice ad.
Yep, that pretty much says it all. Remember when everyone complained because the iPhone wasn't 3G? ATT wasn't ready.
Nice ad.
Hope this isn't true for 4G for AT&T, otherwise matching billions to Verizon's investment in their network is only maintaining their gap. It really sounds like AT&T also knows their 3G technology is fundamentally no where near as good as CDMA 3G technology, and not worth the investment?
Cute play on Apple's ad, "There's an app for that!"
But just "painting a map red" does not mean you'll get that coverage?
What recourse, as a Verizon consumer, does one have when they don't receive 3G service for whatever reason... tall trees, tall buildings, mountains, whatever, can they then sue Verizon for false advertising?
Anybody out there with Verizon service that found they were unable to receive 3G service and then looked at Verizons map commercial and saw that Verizon said they have 3G service? Makes you stop and think for a moment!
Doesn't mean squat when everyone and their dog is dying to get an iPhone and is perfectly willing to put up with AT&T.
It's all fun and games . . . until Verizon gets the iPhone.
Had Apple gone with Verizon, Verizon would have experienced the same crushing pressure on its network.
No one was fully prepared for what the iPhone brought to the table.
When I first read the headline I thought, yikes, if Verizon is attacking the iPhone does that mean they're not going to get it anytime soon? But then after watching the ad, it's clear they're mainly attacking AT&T's network.
In some ways the ad is a nice set up for launching the iphone next year. First they attack AT&T's network and then they tell people if they want both the iphone and a great 3g network, come on over to Verizon.