Bell's Palm Pre commercial couldn't be more Apple if it had an Orba Squara soundtrack
By Ross Miller 
posted Aug 21st 2009 12:33AM
posted Aug 21st 2009 12:33AM
Update: Looks like someone read our minds and spliced the commercial with Orba Squara's infamous "Perfect Timing" found in the iPhone ads. Video's after the break.
[Via Pre Thinking]
See more video at our hub!
Sigh.
I am just waiting for an iphone commercial where a (somewhat creepy) lady says "BING BING BING" :D
Yeah... a touch screen phone commercial where it shows off two hands working the device... yeah... that's apple territory and nobody else can do that. All other smart phones must have feet working the phones in their commercials.
Yes Doug. Your analysis is totally correct! And the multiple iphone / pre similarities are just that, not coincidences!
Keep drinking the kool-aid, fatkid
Palm is bleeding in red every quarter. This won't change anything I'm afraid. Palm would run out of cash in 9 months
and there won't be any more commercial add after that! :)
HAY hav u gaiz hurd of ths iPHONE wanabe PALM PRE wat a MEE TWO DEVISE
WATS A PRE LOLOL
PLAM WIL GO BANKRUPET IN 2 MONTS
I hope you people know that Palm isn't paying for these ads. On to things related: I can very much see the similarities between the two commercials. I really wish Bell would have done something that wasn't as such a direct copy. This coming from a guy who loves his Palm Pre (I can't live without proper multi-tasking and the UI is beautiful).
Look closer. I think the ad wasn't just a copy of the iPhone ads, but a dig at the iPhone. My hint: When the guy does all the things from the iPhone ad and then says "but you can also slide, type..." etc.
I'd like to think this was an iPhone parody ad, but it really just seems like a rip-off. Keep in mind, this ad was (presumably) produced by Bell, not by Palm.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, even if you add a keyboard.
Wait a second, the pre cant rotate the maps like the in google maps. I call foul!
@Yankees368
Seriously.
You have to type CreePyAdz each time and then it will rotate.
"only on the iPre."
Is this the iPre?
http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt333/SluttyMcNugget/iPre3.png
Speechless
Hey Ross, the link I sent you is broken.
http://www.prethinking.com/home/2009/8/21/new-palm-pre-ad-from-bell-looks-identical-to-the-iphone-ads.html
Something about the rotation of the Pre looked weird, I'm not sure why. And yes, the commercial was very Apple-ish.
It rotated 1:1 to the real world rotation. Which seems highly unlikely for some reason.
I also noticed that in the iPhone commercials, the hands holding the phone are frozen, while the Pre hands are slightly moving. I think Apple freezes a hand holding the phone, then green screens a finger, so it looks very professional. While the Pre commercial, you can clearly see the person's hand moving slightly when they're not supposed to.
it happened in their first commercial too when she clicks it to turn the phone on, her hand moves really weird
The rotation and counter-rotation wasn't 1:1. That's why it looks weird.
Well for starters the Gmaps app does not rotate at all on the pre, well at least not on my pre. Maybe its the 1.2 update?
It looks weird becouse it was so precise. They have probably nailed the phone to a axle that rotates the phone.
To me this and iphone commercials both look weird as nobody can hold the phone as still as that, not even a eyesurgeon.
I rather like the creepy adds more than this. At least they aren't same old script with slight variations weve seen hundreds of times.
Wish my iPhone can close apps and allow rotating thats runs that smooth. Half the time when I try to landscape type a text it doesnt want to rotate. :( Very Appleish indeed. better than the other Pre ads. I'm not confused and creeped out by these.
HEHEHE, I agree. The keyboard is good at rotating.
Well I'd like to see you rotate the Pre to horizontal and type ANYTHING.. The stupid thing doesn't even have a virtual keyboard..
@sam
http://www.webos-internals.org/wiki/On_Screen_Keyboard
try again next time, may not be official but it works and is on its way to perfection
Yes try again next time and click his example of a crappy on screen third party hack job keyboard that will probably never be implemented, but damn are you so wrong. Hows that typing in landscape mode going?
All hail Apple, inventor of hands holding things.
lol
They should have that copyrighted.
I mean, Apple DOES copyright just about anything and everything they can get their hands on, so it wouldn't be a stretch.
Crap, they're gonna copyright breathing soon.
The only thing Palm can't ape from Apple's ads is the "app for everything" concept. Heh.
This is a bit sad and disgusting to watch, coming from the company that nearly single-handedly created the consumer PDA market.
@andrew right after they make the iBreathe and the iOxygen accessory
@Mike - I agree. well put.
clean background: check. someone holding a phone and showing off what it can do: check. popular music for a popular phone: check.
I think that it's a pretty common ad.
@Jason: give them a couple years like apple's had... I'm sure that they'll have their own fair share of apps (and maybe not with the same nazi application approval approach that cupertino's taken). as for saying that it's sad and disgusting... they're innovating just like they've done in the past. a commercial that follows a popular formula is disgusting? ....sigh....
and I'm a proud owner of a new iphone 3G-s.... so you can't be calling me a fanboy of the pre camp. I just think that you're being a little asinine. don't knock something until you've tried it. it's an excellent first foray into a totally new OS and the hardware is decent for a first-gen device.
Prokanda - you called Jason asinine, after Andrew said "they're gonna copyright breathing soon" ???
And for the record, Andrew - show me how, exactly, Apple "DOES copyright just about anything and everything they can get their hands on" ...
Show me how Apple copyrights more than other companies do, or copyrights things other companies do not, or indeed, copyrights more than an average person would think is reasonable. Show me any published criticism of the number of Apple copyrights, show me any analysis that demonstrates your claim, show me anything that suggests that your claim is not a pile of steaming, smelly poo.
@Jason:
Homebrew already chucked out over 130 apps within a few months after release. I can't say the same for apple's iPhone during their first launch. BTW: This is a new platform they brewed up, it's not written in their traditional Palm OS, therefore all apps are going to have to be done by scratch.
@Mike I lot of people forgot those old Maxwell tape commercials where minimalism was at it's best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DP89iMe0BY
So no, Apple didn't invent these types of commercials.
Well apparently haters are the same as fanboys and can't see something for what it is regardless of its maker. Engadget isn't implying Apple invented the car and must be hailed because anyone who makes one going forward is a cheap copy of the original. What they're saying is apple came out with a specific car, say the Rolls-Royce Phantom, and this commercial is China's cheap Geely GE copy. Anyone with half a brain and an honest ability to see something for what it is can easily see that these two commercials are too similar to simply be a coincidence. Replace the Pre with the iPhone and the average consumer, heck probably everyone here as well, would easily mistake the two similar commercials as being one and the same from the same maker.
This was post worthy?...
Apparently you found it comment worthy.
So what happened... somebody from Palm finally looked at their own commercials and said...
"Jesus! What the hell are we doing? Who approved this?!?!"
"Calm down, Jim... we've already got a new commercial that's just a phone and a finger... just like the other guy..."
"Oh good... now can I get that albino chick's phone number?"
No way, the albino chick called the shots.
hey tard, if you weren't such a dumbass you'd realize this is Bell's commercial, not palm. palm still runs the creepy shit.
understand now, peabrain?
@Kaitou KID
Tard... Dumbass... Peabrain? Lighten up.
I don't care who made the commercial... I just wanted to post the joke.
But here's something that is not a joke. Every time you see someone holding a cell phone today... I want you to think of me... the guy on Engadget that you called names. Yes, think of me, and ask yourself... "why did I call some random person on the internet names like tard, dumbass and peabrain? What am I trying to prove?" Enjoy having that little thought rattling through your brain.
You just shouldn't have said anything at all. But you did. And now it's too late. You're never gonna forget this little episode. Every time you go to Engadget from now on, you're gonna think of this. Every time you see the Reply link in one of these articles, you will think of this.
You just had to spout off and call people names. And for what? Do you work for Bell? Is it that big of a freaking deal that you had to defend the commercial like this? Well, enjoy thinking about this all day long. Every time you see a Palm Pre... you will think of me too.
And if you reply to me again... it will be even harder for you to forget about this. I can't wait to read what you write back. But if you do... this little episode will be pushed even deeper into your mind. So go ahead... say some more stuff. Drive yourself crazy...
@Kaito WOW man. I cannot believe how bad the comments have gotten on this site. Its just pathetic.
@Kaito WOW. The commenters have gotten so bad, if its not guys like you with no contribution just spouting off at the mouth like a seventh grader, its the army of down rankers and their multiple accounts killing anything that isnt pro MS.
Engadget editors, have you looked at this POS comment system and what these idiots are doing to it? It used to be somewhat enjoyable to have a discussion here. Its like freakin 4chan the MS division owns this site. Expect linux posts to be downranked next.
Yeah Right. So Apple invented the white backdrop, the peppy male narrator and the hip, upbeat music. And the iPhone supports SMOOTH ROTATION especially on the Google maps app... oh wait
Yeah, Right.
Uh...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiEURcbmq-0
Sure, it's not the same kind of "rotation" you're talking about, but which one is more useful?
Secondly, Engadget is simply pointing out that out of all of the smartphone commercials ever made, none have looked as similar as this one and the iPhone's. Did Apple trademark white backgrounds and two hands? No. But that doesn't make the two commercials any less identical.
I heard apple was going to trademark the shade white and the use of hands in advertisements.
It is hilarious that this comment is high ranked. WTF?