Why are the official iPhone demos showing such political news stories - gentlemen and ladies, start your conspiracy theories

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Why are the official iPhone demos showing such political news stories - gentlemen and ladies, start your conspiracy theories

Date Created: 24 Jun, 2007, 11:58 AM

Apple's released a twenty minute video (of varying size and quality - your choice) taking the viewer in some detail through iPhone's features. Some of these have not been shown in such detail before, so anyone wishing to make comment about the iPhone pre-release (that is before getting their paws on one) would do well to bolster their credibility by taking a look.

I did, and noticed straightaway the continuation of a theme I saw at the January MacWorld first showing. This is the demonstration of the Safari browser and its content, specifically the demo of how the online edition of The New York Times appears.

Steve Jobs enjoys good relationships with mainstream media, and it's no surprise that on the iPhone's first public showing at Macworld 2007 on January 9 he showed off Safari's capabilities by an extensive exploration of the New York Times' website.

Given its coverage, it's no surprise that the frontpage features a story about Iraq, which you can see below:

That of course could have been random, and it's possible that if the Space Shuttle was being launched that day it may have made the front page featured in the Macworld demo.

Do look at the times featured however, and make up your own mind how random the selection is. The time on the iPhone is 10.22AM, which is 1.22pm EST. The "Fierce Fighting" article of Santora shows an 11.17AM ET dateline, meaning it was posted at 8.17AM Pacific time. Hmm, me thinks that some time between then and 9am perhaps a further check that NYT website was up and running may have occurred.

No big deal, right?

Except when Steve moves away from the NYT site, off he wanders into the Amazon.com site and there he locates - well, blow me down, there's Apple Board member, former Democrat nominee and happy Keynote user Al Gore's DVD of "An Inconvenient Truth".

Let's fast forward six months to the week before the iPhone's official US release.

Apple has been trickling out information about the iPhone's capacities, some in response to utterly stupid hype and hucksterism, and some as part of its well-thought out marketing plan. The newly published twenty minute featurette gives us the most detailed insight into the iPhone's operational qualities yet. It's so well done you can almost feel yourself touching the screen.

Once more, when it comes time to show Safari's capabilities, the presenter opens the New York Times online page.

And whom do we see: Ted Kennedy. He has already been featured on one of the four iPhones on Apple's current homepage (below) which when clicked, takes you to the twenty minute tour.

In the Safari/New York Times demo, as the camera pans in the featurette, we see the story itself, below:

The story is how the White House and Ted Kennedy both hold the view that America was about to have some important decisions made by its leaders - the President and Congress. This was to be the speech calling for a surge of troops into Iraq.

The story was published in the New York Times of Tuesday, January 9, 2007, the day of Steve Jobs' Macworld Keynote where he introduced the iPhone (see below):

Now I ask you: why six months later would Apple show us the iPhone in as deep a fashion yet seen (and probably more to come in the next week) but use a piece of news dating back to the day the iPhone was let loose?

Is it a political act? One that shows how much planning has gone into the iPhone i.e., was the video made about the time of the Keynote? Or some quirky Jobsian attention to detail? Except the iPhone at Macworld shows the telco to be Cingular, and the more recent twenty minute featurette now displays AT&T, so perhaps that's a blooper.

Beats me, I must say.

But I have no doubt at all that with the relationship between Apple and Google/YouTube we will be seeing many politically-oriented messages delivered onto the iPhone by those politicians savvy enough to realise the might of this new means to reach potential voters.

For me, I'm keeping an eye on Al Gore's waistline. As it is said, if he starts to shed a few kilos, he's in the running. Hmm, an Apple board member as President or member of the Executive, perhaps Environment secretary. That would light a fire underneath those accusing Apple of being less than green.

Interesting time we live in, as the saying goes.

UPDATE: There is a picture of the giant working iPhones in the front of window of Apple stores showing the same Safari New York Times front page featuring Ted Kennedy. Coincidence, once more?

Credit to the ifoapplestore.com website for the picture, where more are shown.