iPhone protest vid uses Apple's own words to support the "crazy ones"

A lot of people out there aren't too happy with Apple right now. Some of them express their displeasure with expletive-filled tirades in the comments section of any pertinent blog post they can find. Other, arguably more creative folks use the popular medium of the day to make the object of their frustration appear foolish and hypocritical in an entertaining manner. To witness just such a protest, head over to the video after the break...

[Thanks, Scott]

[Paul Gandersman @ Sep 30th 2007 8:05PM]

this rocks so hard

[John @ Sep 30th 2007 9:35PM]

I give 20 bonus points to these guys for the use of ligatures in their typography.

very sweet video.

[Hans Luijten @ Sep 30th 2007 10:08PM]

Sweet indeed :-)
Wish someone would air this on national TV ;-)

[med007 @ Oct 2nd 2007 1:39AM]

please find someone to air it on national tv

[johnagan @ Sep 30th 2007 8:10PM]

Along with all the other Apple BS, I tired to swap my 2 iPhone Apple store credits for an Apple gift card and they said Apple specifically said they can't, but no one can tell me why. I remember when Apple used to go out of their way for customers, but now they seem to be going out of their way to piss them off..

[Big John @ Sep 30th 2007 8:15PM]

So they go out of their way to give you a refund, and you still whine about it. That'll show 'em!

[Michael @ Sep 30th 2007 9:49PM]

In his defense Big John it's not really a refund if he can't spend it on what he wants.
It's not like he's even trying to take his money and run, he wants gift cards.

[t-bone @ Sep 30th 2007 10:06PM]

They probably won't do the swap because it is a refund to YOU specifically. ANYBODY can spend a gift card.

[allonblack @ Sep 30th 2007 11:13PM]

They let me do this, he said he wasn't sure if we "could" but he tried, and sure enough I have a 200 dollar gift card.

[craig @ Sep 30th 2007 11:20PM]

Anyone can spend the instore credit, too, t-bone. All you need is the number and the PIN. No name is required. The credit is functionally identical to a gift card except it doesn't seem like a gift.

Interestingly, my credit says I can redeem it at the online store but I couldn't find anywhere to specify it when checking out.

[johnagan @ Sep 30th 2007 11:41PM]

I tried in 2 stores in Atlanta, then called the Apple store, which then transfered me to the iPhone rebate dept, then transfered me to sales support. None of which could tell me why, only that it is not an eligible item for the iPhone credit.

I asked in the store, what if I wanted to give the credit as a gift and they said you can give them the print out to use.. I thought it was pretty ignorant personally, but like Big John said, it's a credit so I guess I shouldn't complain much..

[DewyDecimal @ Oct 1st 2007 11:02PM]

When they used to go out of the way for the customer? Oh you mean like giving you a 100 dollar credit on a device that you were more than happy to buy at a higher price? Get a grip man, they are a giant corporation, looking, like all businesses, to make money. Be happy about the fact that they are willing to give you anything. Did Motorola through a credit to their customers when the Razor went from 400 dollars to free? Enjoy your 100 dollar credit and move on with your life.

[Bryant @ Sep 30th 2007 8:10PM]

iRock :)

[ross410 @ Oct 3rd 2007 10:16PM]

LOL I used to have an iRock when I was in Iraq..It had like 64mb's of mem.

[aboriginal @ Sep 30th 2007 8:11PM]

Here's to my 600.00 pedometer. I'll wait and see what shakes out since I'm still paying off my first gen gotta have 600.00 RAZR that has been free with sign-up for a couple of years now. Chill.

[rlh82 @ Sep 30th 2007 8:17PM]

Sounds like someone needs to learn their lesson in consumer electronics buying :P

[aboriginal @ Sep 30th 2007 10:11PM]

Sarcasm 101, baby.

[Ireland @ Sep 30th 2007 8:11PM]

If Apple refuses to ignore and block these great Apps, they may as well forget it. Take out your guns Apple your feet need to be shot.

[Ireland @ Sep 30th 2007 8:15PM]

Replace 'refuses' with 'continues', should make more sense then. And Endadget if you are listening, where's that comment-edit feature I have been asking for for over a year? 2 or 3 minutes and these mistakes should never happen again.

[Tristan OTierney @ Sep 30th 2007 9:00PM]

You're using a shitty weblogs, inc blog. Why would you expect perhaps the worst blogging engine around to get better?

[drock @ Oct 1st 2007 3:29AM]

Or you could read it over BEFORE submitting. Just a thought.

[bratliff @ Oct 1st 2007 7:18PM]

Wow, you just got dissed for grammar and spelling. Now go back to the third grade and do fifty lines on the chalkboard.

[Ashwin @ Sep 30th 2007 8:19PM]

I love 3rd party apps, and I downgraded to get them back on there.
However, if we really want to stick it to apple, that fake ad thing needs more work.
I'll start working on something right now... using the same background music/vocals from the old think different ad.

[Kamal @ Sep 30th 2007 8:20PM]

why are people surprised by this? apple always has been very closed about how people use their hardware or software.

[turn_self_off @ Sep 30th 2007 9:18PM]

or in other words, its ok to think different, as long as its the same kind of different as apple...

kinda like the ford quote, "you can have the model t in any color, as long as its black"...

[dj-kenpo @ Sep 30th 2007 9:23PM]

I think it's because the ones being surprised have never really noticed apples tactics before now, they've always just been quietly humming away in their heads and now, every now and then all of a sudden someone that was humming, stops, and lets out a very scooby-doo sounding "ArrRRoooOO?"

[freakscene @ Sep 30th 2007 10:14PM]

Yes, Apple has always had a closed-system approach, but their efforts have usually been reasonable and fair, and if you didn't like it, you could bypass their walled garden fairly easily without fear of repercussion.

That has all changed with Apple's "appliance" devices like the iPhone and the AppleTV. Apple has gone out of their way, spending many engineering hours to shut down and close any loopholes that might arise, instead of working on more beneficial matters like, oh... Leopard security and stability. "Reasonable" is no longer a word in Apple's vernacular, except in the most Orwellian sense.

The great bit of irony here is that Apple's excuse for not allowing 3rd-party software is that they're afraid of "damage to the network" (in spite of a lack of evidence from Windows Mobile systems to that end). This was the same bit of doublespeak used by Ma Bell AT&T back in the day to disallow any non-AT&T phones to be used on their system.

[Josh @ Sep 30th 2007 11:10PM]

I made that sound about a month ago. Thanks for the shout out lol.

[Bootes @ Sep 30th 2007 11:48PM]

Apple has always allowed people to do anything they wanted with their Apple hardware.

[Masasuka @ Oct 1st 2007 7:52AM]

And that's why PC's sell more than 60% of market share! You CAN do whatever you want, and no-one will shut you down.

[Sam @ Sep 30th 2007 8:21PM]

So like every other electronic device in the past gagillion years, the iphone has been hacked to run custom software.

Cept the only group of consumers that were felt it was interesting enough to make a video celebrating their device's hackers was apple buyers.

The world really does revolve around those crazy, unique, individual apple consumers doesn't it.

All 15 bagillion unique and crazy personalities, all breaking from the trend in their own amazing and unique way.

/facepalm.

[Mile @ Sep 30th 2007 8:25PM]

Are those real numbers or did you make those up?

[JaxTJ @ Sep 30th 2007 8:23PM]

I fought off buying Apple for as long as I could. My wife and I have now been assimilated into the collective when we went to our local PC Depot and got a pair of iPhattys. My Archos will still do my heavy lifting, but boy is this thing small... and light... and... crap, I'm now one of "them."

[dj-kenpo @ Sep 30th 2007 9:25PM]

tertiary adjunct of unimatrix 'i' ? 7 of 9million?

[smi1ey @ Sep 30th 2007 8:33PM]

when will people stop bitching about everything apple does? i've never heard of any other company offering even a partial refund to idiots who paid for something before a price drop. i've also rarely heard of a company supporting their product after it has been modified or hacked against how it was original manufactured! why is everyone so shocked that the update doesn't support this? apple even warns you before the update takes place that that it could get in the way of third party software.

update is released, the hacker community will eventually get things working with the update, and then the cycle will start all over again. same thing happened with the PSP, and the homebrew community for that has been going strong since it's release - and this is with sony intentionally breaking "unlocked" PSPs (whether apple is doing this intentionally, i can't say).

anyways, it blows me away that everyone expects apple to jump for joy and support a product with features they have nothing to do with. this will always be a mystery to me. oh well. you all bought your iphone knowing this stuff wouldn't be supported, and knowing that there were chances the price would eventually be lower.

[Nick @ Sep 30th 2007 8:44PM]

thank you. really. thank you.

apple has always been very clear about what its products do, and don't do. and what they do, they do very well. who's to blame them for not supporting something they don't do, and warn their customers against?

[Joseph @ Sep 30th 2007 8:48PM]

I agree. I waited until the price drop till I bought my iPhone, and I got the $299 one that is on clearance. Why do people go insane when Apple drops the price of a product? Look at the PS3, it came out, and people killed each other to get one in the first week, and paid thousands of dollars on ebay, and now Sony dropped the price, discontinued both the 20 and 60 gig models, and created a new model for the original price. Are they getting a law suit for this? No. I waited till the PS2 droppd to $129 before I bought mine, and I will do the same of the PS3 because it is still too expensive. Iwouldn't have even bought an iPhone for another year or two, but when they droped the 4gb model to $299, I couldn't resist. I don't need 8gb, I already have a 60gig iPod with 40 free gigs on it. But whatever.

I'm sorry that products come out, then new ones replace them in a matter of months, but that is how it has been for the past 5 or more years when it comes to technology and gadgets, but most of these people still don't understand that. Look at Intel, they are already announcing that new Processors they are working on for the next decade, so every year, there will be a newer, better, faster one.

[Fruition @ Sep 30th 2007 8:54PM]

"i've never heard of any other company offering even a partial refund to idiots who paid for something before a price drop."

Likewise, I've never heard any major company announce a significant price reduction on one of their hottest products two months after releasing it.

[Fruition @ Sep 30th 2007 8:59PM]

I mean obviously, it makes no sense to be upset just because a product got a price reduction; that's not what everyone was mad about. They were mad because it happened so soon after launch.

I mean, if they released the PS3 in November and then in January Sony went "lolz $100 price cut" everyone would be pissed too.

[Nathan @ Sep 30th 2007 9:59PM]

Ok... i don't think you get it.

Apple has a very narrow view of what the iphone should do.
People see the potential and power of the iphone.

Instead of apple being adult about this and embracing the amazing ingenuity of its users (and changing its business model), it acts against them (probably largely due to financial obligations they have with partners...[i.e. att and others])

It is a real shame when innovators and dreamers have to be vilified.
the iphone has so much potential, much more than apple can even fathom, yet it they act as if these people are enemies.

Look at the amazing things the opensource community has done with every major OS on the planet. It is truely amazing.

Opensource and code sharing is the future. you can't deny it.
the iphone is just one more example of old business models getting in the way of the future of computing.

it is a shame.

[Tim @ Sep 30th 2007 10:44PM]

wait, so you're saying that since Apple developed a product and poured money into the venture for years, they can't be cautious about protecting their product and avoiding a mess with such an ambitious open source community?

their product is a stepping stone to a better mobile device. they need to have a business strategy that allows control of their product; they are not solely a hardware manufacturer here, they want to make money through their media delivery as well.

Apple is keeping things in their hands because:
1. Exclusive contracts with their carriers (AT&T) probably funded a decent chunk of the phone's development.
2. They want to control bought media on the phone - if they open the phone up, you're giving people a chance to circumvent their iTunes shopping experience
3. The product HAS BEEN OUT FOR A FEW MONTHS! For those that complain about the price drop, they surely love to complain about the evolution of a device that's young.

Apple does accept good third-party development - if you recall Cover Flow was a third-party app that was bought by Apple.

Quit whining about how the iPhone needs to be turned into some open-source revolution - maybe you should look at the mobile phone industry as a whole and find a way to change it.

[Bootes @ Sep 30th 2007 11:55PM]

Uhm buying a third party app is in no way supporting third party apps.

Things get cheaper over time, while I was surprised, I wasn't mad at Apple for the price drop.

Although I believe Apple should allow third party apps, it's ok for them not to. I just expect them to not purposefully disable the use of third party apps.

[john @ Sep 30th 2007 8:41PM]

FIGHT THE APPLE!...

If enough of these great videos show up maybe Apple will finally pull the worms out of its products.

Great video!

I was considering an imac etc but with all this bs and not listening to customers I'm going linux for my next notebook.

BTW "iphone" is an inappropriate name. It should be called "Steve's phone", since HE tells you what you can and cannot do with it, regardless of the fact that you paid for it.

[mr mike @ Sep 30th 2007 8:46PM]

thanks NATE TRUE and the DEV team!!!!!!!! THANK YOU

[jscinoz @ Oct 3rd 2007 12:37AM]

I salute you John, LINUX > ALL

[Dom @ Sep 30th 2007 8:52PM]

guess il i go for the n95 instead...just when i was begining to take to apple iphone...

[don @ Sep 30th 2007 8:54PM]

Scores:

Wonderful Video Guy, 1
Fanatic Apple supporters, 0
Apple's Jobs -1

[bugmat @ Sep 30th 2007 8:55PM]

Great ad! Apple has become that status quo they laughed at decades ago, tsk tsk.

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Sep 30th 2007 9:48PM]

Yeah, Apple, you always tried to rebel against Big Brother. Now, you ARE Big Brother. Shame on you.

[Chris @ Sep 30th 2007 8:58PM]

Guess there not owned by apple after all.