The BlackBerry Storm ad that might have been

This, shall we say, confrontational BlackBerry Storm ad by NY ad agency Guava has been making the rounds today, depicting a blackberry "bullet" taking a violent path through a familiar-seeming piece of fruit. An anonymous source told us that RIM considered it but eventually got cold feet -- and we can understand why. Nonetheless, it's an awesome bit of smack, so hit up the break and check it out for yourself.

[Thanks, Michael]

[John @ Feb 26th 2009 6:28PM]

"nothing can touch it" with regards to a touch screen device seems a bit wrong-messagy to me.

[Mobius_1 @ Feb 26th 2009 6:56PM]

Just needs MC Hammer now.

[a ham sandwich @ Feb 26th 2009 7:04PM]

@ john

lol! good point!

also, if the "bullet" enters from the left, then the impact "wound" would create a crater in the apple, not an outward explosion. photoshop!

[Max @ Feb 26th 2009 7:19PM]

Actually, that's exactly what an apple looks like when shot with a high caliber round. The bullet hits the apple with such force that the area around the entry "wound" is forced away from the bullet and out from the apple's surface. I don't know the exact physics behind it, but that's why entry wounds for high caliber rounds are always so much bigger than the round itself. It expels material outward, away from the target.

Now, this is probably me just taking your comment way too seriously, but of course it was edited. But they simply replaced the bullet with the blackberry. What happened to the apple is all real.

I certainly hope you were being somewhat sarcastic.

[MeanSpyvie @ Feb 26th 2009 7:26PM]

My guess would be that is actual footage of an apple being shot, with the bullet being digitally transformed into a berry.

[AJ @ Feb 26th 2009 7:42PM]

"Try and touch it." might have been a better tag line. Cool ad though.

[yochachi @ Feb 26th 2009 7:44PM]

I think what they meant was "Nothing can touch it and get the desired response", or "nothing can touch it without accidentally shutting it off or unintentionally hiding important apps"

Signed,
RIM fan, keyboard/keypad activist.

[badweasel @ Feb 26th 2009 8:21PM]

All you "that's what really happens to an apple when shot" guys are insane! Or YOUR being extremely sarcastic.

I think it's a great ad. But this is a multi-layered composited effect and not even close to the destruction that happens to an apple when a real bullet goes through it. Check this video for reference...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJHDsMACC6w

[Josh Ladella @ Feb 26th 2009 8:34PM]

@Max

Why the heck were you shooting apples?

[sacapuntas @ Feb 26th 2009 8:38PM]

PEOPLE- The driver shot apple, just rewind it and look real hard... it is there....

[wickedpheonix @ Feb 26th 2009 8:57PM]

So what do we have now - a multiple BlackBerry conspiracy?

[Max @ Feb 26th 2009 10:05PM]

@Josh Ladella: I haven't personally fired a high caliber rifle at an apple, but I've seen many videos demonstrating and read many articles on gunshot wounds, whether it's fruit or otherwise. I have, however, shot a 30-06 rifle through a pop bottle, which achieves a similar effect, though not as cool at normal speeds.

@badweasel:

If you watch the video that you linked to very closely, you'll notice that the apple initially does exactly the same thing as the one in the ad, including material being jettisoned, the "petaling" of the skin around the entry and exit wounds, and the general swelling of the apple as a whole. In the commercial, all that is lacking is the final portion in which the apple would explode. If it isn't real, it's a very faithful recreation of the event. I mean really accurate. Even down to the angles of the blast cones of the jettisoned material is remarkably close.

Also, I have a more accurate bit of reasoning for the jettisoning of material in the opposite direction of the bullet at the point of entry. It's due partially to the bullet's conical shape, partially due to the fact that the apple is mostly water. The reason why apples, and indeed most of the water-based targets in @badweasel's video explode so violently when hit with a high caliber round is that water cannot be compressed, so the water displaced by the round passing through the apple is pressed outwards, creating a very energetic shockwave the results in the violent expansion of the entire apple. As for the blast cone at entry, the tip of the bullet pierces the skin of the apple, then proceeds to force the flesh out of its path of travel, imparting kinetic energy into it. Because of the conical nature of the bullet, and the fact that it pierced the skin, the path of least resistance for the flesh is out along an angular path, as defined by the slope of the tip of the bullet, in the opposite direction from the bullet's direction of travel. Essentially the same thing happens at the point of exit, except in a somewhat opposite order, and the blast cone's angle is somewhat different, what looks to me to be the complementary angle of the entry blast cone.

This is all a very basic description, based on a very basic understanding of physics. I'd love any input as to whether all of this is correct, or any additions that could be made. Sadly, though, I think that this is extremely non-sequitur, and perhaps should be laid to rest.

[Andrew @ Feb 26th 2009 10:13PM]

@badweasel

You should watch the video you reference. The discussion was wether or not there was a indented crater at the bullet's entrance point, or an outward explosion. Your video clearly shows at 0:20 that in the case of a real apple and a real bullet, there is indeed an outward explosion and not an indent.

We could discuss the various calibers and loads and what they each would do to an apple. (for instance, a subsonic .22 does go through an apple without completely destroying it) Or we could further discuss the sizes and densities of various apple types. But in the end, this ad a reasonably accurate depiction of what happens when a bullet is shot through an apple.

[Nabil Naghdy @ Feb 26th 2009 10:35PM]

why you make a joke about a mother-in-law?

[hitsthings @ Feb 26th 2009 10:50PM]

An image almost exactly like this was used as an album cover ten or fifteen years ago...
Anyone remember that? Who was that?

[Future Man @ Feb 26th 2009 11:55PM]

It's a pretty famous photo:

http://www.eyecatchypics.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/stopping-time11-1819.jpg

[Benjy the giant slinky @ Feb 27th 2009 4:19AM]

Oh my word!!! I would have thought that the reader base of engadget would have more then a handful of braincells to rub between them!!! The "cant touch it" comment is clearly a pun, ie its implying that no other company can come close to how bad ass the phone is. Each company has its benefits im sure. Granted i cant see why any one would EVER waste there hard earned pennies on a iPhone, tied to a crappy contract for 18 months, forced to use itunes (easily the worst bit of software out there), no decent email support, crap camera etc etc. The storm has its issues also, but nothing that cant be fixed with a firmware update.

Simple fact is apple are out for world domination and far to many people are bending over to them.

As for the apple exploding on the entry wound, please go google it before declaring to all the other engadget readers your complete IGNORANCE.

Also, just to sound like a total hypocrite, in the end they are ONLY phones and this ad is flipping funny and i wish RIM had aired it, just to piss off apple!

Up your apple! :D

A mac owner and a 8900 owner!

[loosely_coupled @ Feb 27th 2009 7:35PM]

"Oh my word!!! I would have thought that the reader base of engadget would have more then a handful of braincells to rub between them!!! The "cant touch it" comment is clearly a pun, ie its implying that no other company can come close to how bad ass the phone is"

Clearly you are the idiot here. The original comment was obviously meant to be snarky and sarcastic...

[TJ @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

I liked it.... I thought the blackberry looked good to eat.

[cy21 @ Feb 26th 2009 8:31PM]

am i the only one that seems to see that the blackberry (storm) is destroying the apple (iphone) ?

[adam @ Feb 26th 2009 8:20PM]

@cy21

wait. i didnt see that. please elaborate.

[Quintin @ Feb 26th 2009 8:38PM]

Are they saying that the Storm beats Apple (iphone)? Cause everyone agrees thats BULL.

[Josh @ Feb 26th 2009 10:11PM]

I liked the add a lot too, pretty simple and it certainly sends the message that they wanted to..

[MicroF_ckingSoft @ Feb 27th 2009 12:16AM]

Not only is the Blackberry tearing through the Apple, but note also that the music is cut short when the Blackberry hits the Apple. Note that this very same music (Black Angels "Black Grease" from the album _Passover_) was used on the T-Mobile website to introduce the G1 the day that phone launched. (T-Mobile has since changed the G1 webpage and the music.)

[Testies, Testies, 1, 2... 3? @ Feb 27th 2009 5:41PM]

Did they fill that apple with cotton or something?

[KAIKAI @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

that was quite a good ad lol
i liked it

[sip @ Feb 26th 2009 7:40PM]

I liked the few notes from Echoes :D

[Darren @ Feb 26th 2009 8:19PM]

Good call on Echoes!!!!

[wrabbit @ Feb 26th 2009 8:46PM]

Great ad... and also a great avatar KAIKAI :)

[Jakob @ Feb 27th 2009 2:38AM]

Very nice ad, indeed, but epic fail in the end, where you can hear the blackberry actually smash into the wall!

[mrfong @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

Shouldn't it say, "Nothing can click it"?

[Generalguy41 @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

Now that, my good sir, is awesome :P
although IMO, they should have had more in it.

[adokimus @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

Clever ad, but not much to back it up.


Now, if the pre sliced through an apple...

[who? @ Feb 26th 2009 7:21PM]

Pretty sure slicing food was patented by Apple when the MacBook Air came out...

[z-man @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

if that ad ever aired, there would be a lot of criticism from the public.
fact: people love Apple, whether they own one or not.

[kjb434 @ Feb 26th 2009 6:36PM]

It's not much different than all those Mac/PC ads Apple creates.

At least Microsoft's answer to those were not controversial.

[InAbsentia @ Feb 26th 2009 7:02PM]

Fact: I don't love apple.

[Dorv @ Feb 26th 2009 7:33PM]

Fact: I'm an Apple lover.

Fact: I'm of the opinion that ad was funny as hell. I love stuff like this.

[Ryan @ Feb 26th 2009 7:35PM]

Fact: The new guy cuts his own hair. :Fact

[Will H. @ Feb 26th 2009 7:36PM]

Fact: Not everyone is an apple fanboy.

[Nomi @ Feb 26th 2009 7:43PM]

Fact: Bears. Beats. Battlestar Galactica

[Ivan @ Feb 26th 2009 8:31PM]

Nomi, thank you...
I was waiting for that

[Swimatm @ Feb 26th 2009 9:31PM]

Fact: Unfortunately that's true.

[Swimatm @ Feb 27th 2009 1:57AM]

Also Fact: Lysol kills 99.9% of household germs.

[richbum @ Feb 27th 2009 2:38AM]

Thats not funny Jim. identity theft is a serious problem.

[pete @ Feb 27th 2009 4:41PM]

Fact: I love Apples, but I'm not human

[strongspeed515 @ Feb 26th 2009 6:31PM]

WTF they should have totally aired that. Awesome.

[Sylvanus @ Feb 26th 2009 7:49PM]

We all know if they had ran that, Apple would have clapped back hard. They would have had a commercial of someone trying to use the BlackBerry storm saying "you're right, no one can touch it" and that would have been game over.

[jschmier @ Feb 26th 2009 8:15PM]

I wish they had ran it because I would have liked seeing Apple's reply. I picture the cute little berry sitting there and then the apple falls from off screen and splatters his juicy little guts all over the place.

[z-man @ Feb 26th 2009 8:27PM]

@Slyvanus

your right