Vodafone's BlackBerry Storm art department all soon to be fired
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Oct 8th 2008 1:44AM
posted Oct 8th 2008 1:44AM
In case you're reading this after these images get taken down -- which they inevitably will be -- this was the official marketing material posted tonight by RIM's Storm launch partner, Vodafone.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This is so bizarre that I, for once, was ready to (+) a " FIRST! " comment.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
HAHAHAHA
I don't see how ANYONE in ANY advertising department would think this was a good idea.
THIS . . . .
JUST . . . .
CAN'T . . . .
I just can't seem to get a grasp to reality after this.
I mean, they couldn't be such a55 h0les even if they were trained to do so.
A newjack shows up and demonstrates the STINK of desperation!
Kinda like a Palin stump speech...
the browser is even covering the Blackberry logo.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA^2
Looks like the iPhone killer took off with some property of the victim.
You keep what you kill...I guess.
I find it hard to believe that something like this could happen. I'd be interested in the story behind it.
i lol'd too :)
I think I know what happened here, although there is no excuse as to why it was not check before being posted. I believe someone scaled part of the image without first unlocking other layers or something of that matter.
NEVER MIND. I just saw the OTHER images. This is beyond stupidity.
Can't you guys see? there telling us that the BlackBerry CAN cut and paste just like there makers!
WIN!
Cool ! They just got a better job !!! Steve will hire them for promoting the iPhone !!!!!!
I bet my BlackBerry "safari" it's fake! :)
Definitely NOT an iPhone ripoff.
Forgive me... but isn't that browser also based off Webkit?
Is it even skinnable?
nvm, just noticed the "cingular"
Talk about going over your head. It's the safari browser from the IPHONE on a blackberry - definitely out of place. Unless you're trolling.
Its a screen capture/image of an iPhone display...
Oh god really?
"Why did you leave your old job?"
"Don't ask."
Well i guess this is a better way to get back at your employer than shooting up the place.
yea, my boss was shmugg! :D
holy shit
Haha!
LOL!!! I want one! iPhone killer!
now that is a prime example of how easy copy/paste is.
That was a spectacular comment with equally spectacular timing.
Yeah, and now we can be sure that blackberry has copy&paste unlike the product of a certain fruit company.
that comment needs to go to a hall of fame page or something...good on ya
brilliant
Johan - Yes, because copy and paste is so much more important than having wifi. OH SNAP, yeah the Storm doesn't have wifi. Please go ahead and try to spin that positively somehow, that will be hilarious to watch.
Well if you have a reliable 3G network who really needs WiFi
I just do not get whay some artist are so stupid... Trust me they know what they are doing, they think this is a funny joke, or the one village idiot that got away.
It is so much easier to just do things right.
Of course, RIM should have provided proper materials and those "stock" images should have never been on the artist's buisness computers...
I would fire them if they worked in my art department,
M
I envision is that the artist asked for stock images and he just got the one with the screen off and his boss told him to "photoshop" some screens on there. He probably said that he'd need screenshots of the Storm's interface and the guy probably told him to Google it. Pissed off he put iPhone images on there.
Trust me, the artist won't get any reprimand. The person who approved this (e.g. the boss) will get some sort of butt chewing.
I just do not get whay some artist are so stupid... Trust me they know what they are doing, they think this is a funny joke, or the one village idiot that got away.
It is so much easier to just do things right.
Of course, RIM should have provided proper materials and those "stock" images should have never been on the artist's buisness computers...
I would fire them if they worked in my art department,
M
iPhone copycat! LOL!
Wow, those are some mighty old screen shots. That Installer icon is ancient, haven't seen it forever, and those Safari pictures have been around since before the iPhone was even out. Looks like somebody did a Google Image search. I can't really seem to understand how somebody could do that, I mean, unless they mistook it for an iPhone, but seriously. Wow.
I could have done a better job in ms paint.
@Striker
Hate to break it to you buddy, but your avatar is pretty flamby too, pouty lips.
Good catch, it's most definitely a placeholder and those pics are probably a joke.
@Flunky
I made that in 30 seconds in paint after I responded to him. My avatar used to be David Blaine.
You call yourself an Apple fanboy (the Apple logo in your picture) and you never heard of something called jailbreaking? Installer? Cydia?
My God.
check out the apple background i made in photoshop in 5 mins!\
http://img386.imageshack.us/my.php?image=applebackgroundgm4.jpg
Not sure what I said to get low ranked, that Avatar has been the one I have used for years. I made it in photoshop, all I do is change the picture, which is a picture of me. Works perfectly in Forums, has my online name, a pictur eof me, and a logo of my favorite company, which is what an Avatar is supposed to be. If you don't like it, than maybe you have some self confidence issues that you should talk to somebody about. Low ranking somebody, making fun of them, and then spending time to make your icon look just like mine is something a 5th grader would do. As as far as the jailbreak thing, maybe you should read, I said I hadn't seen it in awhile, I said that because the icon in the picture is the original Installer icon from more than a year ago, they changed it.
Would fire them if it was completely their own fault. Sometimes it's the project manager or the person above them that comes up with bright ideas and the artists need to endure them. "yes sir... right away..."
I take it that is what commenters meant by 'just another iPhone clone'.
ok iphone fanboys are allowed to comment on this ONE post
I just went to the Vodafone site and could not find a single link to that page, and after clicking on the link from here, it seems most of the navigation links are broken and the entire page is overall just a template or placeholder. The question is how this page was found, I don't think it was meant for public eyes just yet.
You're right. That would explain the non-working Item One, Item Two, etc. buttons on the left. Seems to be a page work-in-progress stub. Also, cocks.
Yea dude I noticed that too, this definitely wasn't meant to be seen by the public yet. I wonder how in the heck someone was able to find this, unless someone internally leaked it.
Yeah, that can only be an internal leak, someone in the art dept. was probably having a laugh in Photoshop and they've used those images as placeholders.
If you look, the menu title says 'The New Blackberry Thunder', where as the text by the pictures says 'Blackberry Storm'.
No no no no! Apple to storm Vodafone's BlackBerrt Storm art department soon.
Is that Dilbert's upcoming token African-American co-worker? Dude, a Scott Adams leak is even bigger news than an Apple leak! Right on!
ROFL, I can understand if the artist has never seen the iPhone UI but you just have to be plain stupid and not actually look at it and realize it doesn't say Vodaphone anywhere (let along Cingular!)
Plus they committed the ultimate sin for any corporate artist by pasting over the company name!
Can Apple sue for this?
You can sue for anything you want, but do they have a case? No really. The only thing that could be deemed stolen is copyright of the images of the Safari page, which I believe were the stock images from the original pre-iPhone launch after the 2007 MacWorld event. The other image is a jailbroken iPhone so it's not on Apple's site. So, Apple has no worthwhile case and this promotes the iPhone as the standard for touchscreen phones while making Voda and RiM look like chumps.
Yeah but they prolly won't get much compensation cause they might have a hard time proving they were greatly disadvantaged.
Hook, link, and sinker. That's how you guys swallowed this hoax.
The site is still up. I was able to click the link and see everything. Way to go Vodafone.
When I saw the picture at first I thought you guys are already comparing the Storm to the iPhone.. Then I looked closer..
Thats exactly what i thought! I thought "why are they comparing it in size to the iphone!"
LOL
wow, these are the same guys who put 3.2.0 MegaPixel Camera too
This has to be some sort of internal joke or some upset employee getting revenge.
Since this appears to be a temporary in house page, I bet it was just the Web designers having some fun until they get the official screens with Voda attire and such. Look at the paste job on the Safari images, they are off center. I mean seriously, if you were in an art department you are telling me you wouldn't have fun with an internal page that is only meant to be seen by your team? I don't think its the art department getting the boot, its the guy that sent this page to the servers.
FAIL ! hahaha
Ok this is just a placeholder page to hold over a place in the database until actual launch. Very common practice. Those images are just place holders and are just meant to be what kind of pictures belong there, they aren't supposed to be anything permanent.
So all this hullabaloo about a non public page? Seriously engadget... this is a waste of your time.
It is 11:18PM PST and the images are still up. I absolutely can't believe they could let that go for so long.
Don't be so fast to fire the art department. Shame on you, Engadget, for assuming the studio or art directors are at fault. Often times, work in progress uses other representative images for internal use only. Multiple checks and balances ensue from proofreaders, creative directors, account people, traffic managers, clients, legal departments, you name it, they all check things over to make sure what is released to the public is correct and appropriate for the brand. Something was mislabeled and mistakenly released. There will be hell to pay, for sure. But, everyone's human. The offender will probably be put on notice.
Nice chuckle. To the idiots who say they fire the offender immediately, you're a sad and sorry bunch. You never made a mistake? Or gaffe? Puh-leeze.
Hey guys, I think I found Vodafone's promotional materials director!
Just note the names on the buttons at the top of the Vodafone screen...
"Item 1 | Item 2 | Item 3 | Item 4 | Item 5"
Yes, a page under development.
Someone needs to change the Permissions on it.
Sad thing is that someone's dumb little private joke is out in the public and is going to get them either the sack or in serious poo.
Shut up, fanboys, it doesn't look like the iPhone at all.
Put a large touch screen on a smart phone, and it's all going to look pretty much the similar. To say that they copy & pasted iPhone elements is preposterous, and only shows what a big ass fanboy you are. Sheesh.
what.
Pot calling kettle black comes to mind...
Whoosh
*facepalm* You'd best be trolling...
I hate it when people don't read the article and just assume.
OK, OK. I officially regret not using the /sarcasm tag :-p
I think he's just parodying the commenters who insult other commenters who accuse some companies of copying elements of the iPhone. I think.
Who knew Nancy Pelosi was that tough of a gal.
that cannot be real.... are they seriously that dumb? thats just inexcusable, hilarious, but inexcusable.
This is probably what it actually looks like...
http://blackberry.vodafone.co.uk/storm/
I am looking right now on the page and it is true. I guess the webmaster forgot to set the permision on it, and until he have the right pictures he played a little bit with what he found on the net. Sad, very sad.
It does sound nice but not enough to make me jump to Verizon. No wifi means you have to use their data plan and they are VERY restrictive of what you can/can't download. The contract restrictions are almost hysterical.
I'm holding out for v2.0 of the G1.
I for one would like a "plug-in membory card" with my Cingaphone iBerry.
facepalm.jpg
i think it might be an early version of the page that was supposed to be put up, and this was a joke by one of the artists, but some dumb marketing person put it up without paying attention, b/c for the battery life it says: "...which provides xx hour's talk time and xx hour's standby time".......................but still, its funny as hell
Damn Steven, stole my comment.
It's a fun way to get a lot of atention to the coming new blackberry. I think it is all a joke, but I suppose that also can be a mistake uploading files to the server. Anyway, if they are letting this all this time I am thinking there must be a hidden goal... If this spreads over the net a lot of people is going to find out about the new blackberry Storm!
This one's good, too:
"1400 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell battery which provides xx hour's talk time and xx hour's standby time."
It's a fun way to get a lot of atention to the coming new blackberry. I think it is all a joke, but I suppose that also can be a mistake uploading files to the server. Anyway, if they are letting this all this time I am thinking there must be a hidden goal... If this spreads over the net a lot of people is going to find out about the new blackberry Storm!
Well if all they wanted was attention, I think it's working.
I suspect someone from the McCain campaign must be running the show down at the Vodafone Marketing Headquarters.
Hahaha... I know outlook for RIMM isn't that great but this has to go down as a hail mary pass fer sure, doggonit!
When did Psystar get into the cell phone business?
What none of you guys have heard about the IBerry yet.
I totally call that one a couple comments up ;)
Also, your comment is made of win.
ROFL!
What? No EPIC FAIL mockups?
So, uh, you're not big on "reading things before replying," I guess.
Seriously, put some effort into your posts.