iPhone Commercials Through The Years – Will Apple Break The Mold With The iPhone 5?

Excitement is building for the iPhone 5 launch to the point where we’re now hearing rumors about the commercial for it. There’s nothing inherently exciting about that except for the fact that it means the launch is getting steadily closer. After all, iPhone commercials don’t usually have the same panache as the Mac vs PC commercials of the recent past. For the iPhone, Apple generally sticks to the basics: what does it do and how can it make my life better?

This is clear from the first iPhone commercials aired back in 2007.

These highlight web browsing, media, and of course the iPod part of the phone. And while they may seem repetitive all strung together like that (with that horrible music), they’re effective because they don’t mess around. It’s just: Look at this awesome thing. Go out and buy it.

Notice that there’s not a lot of talk about apps. That wouldn’t come until later when the idea of apps caught on and exploded in ways apparently even Apple didn’t predict. They were quick to take advantage of it though. Welcome to the “There’s an app for that” era:

Beyond the basic hand holding an iPhone while voice talks us through what it does ads, there were a few fun ads that highlighted the device’s desirability and either poked fun at or was dead serious about the amount of security surrounding said phone. (I’ll let you be the judge.) The 3G and 3G S ads below appear to take place in the same fictional facility though one is from the UK and one from here.

The Apple attitude is on display there as well, with the whole “The only phone to beat the iPhone” bit.

But even with these floating around, iPhone commercials stayed pretty much the same as those early ones.

With the iPhone 4 launch we also got FaceTime, thus a slew of commercials touting this feature. Here Apple opened a big box of sentimentality and scooped out every last shred they could find.

Oh, and also: Retina Display. But really, does that compare to new grandfatherhood? No, it does not.

And of course when the iPhone came to Verizon Wireless there was much rejoicing. Apple’s commercial touting the new member of the clan was very balanced:

Whereas Verizon quickly sought to capitalize on AT&T’s perceived weaknesses:

Think that’s a bit much? Check out this commercial that aired ahead of the day the phone actually hit Verizon stores:

Given the iPhone commercials of yore, I wonder if the iPhone 5 ones will be about the same or if Apple is going to go big with this one. After all, most people know what the phone can do and how it can make everything better and that it has all the apps. Seems like the design will be the star this time around. It’ll be interesting to see how they spin it.