Think Different

I stumbled across one of Apple’s classic ad campaigns. Watch Jobs pitch it below:

Found this via Young Guns vs. Old Ones.

Inspiring, and a masterpiece of advertisement.

Makes me wonder how differently Apple were thinking when they announced Ping their new social network for music.

Despite championing HTML5 it would seem Apple have now decided a web browser (even Safari) is inferior to the almighty monolith that is iTunes. Ping is completely walled off. Why it doesn’t have a web interface I have no idea. It’s social without the riff-raff. Or Apple-friendly mainstream artists without the indie bands.

The problem with the interface of iTunes Store & Ping is that by all accounts it generally sucks (ignoring Steve’s opinion). It doesn’t behave or interact in the same way as a website. But it _should _be a website. Instead it’s confusing, fiddly, tedious, awkward; proprietary nonsense. Now that is thinking differently.

To quote Apple on HTML5:

These web standards are open, reliable, highly secure, and efficient. They allow web designers and developers to create advanced graphics, typography, animations, and transitions. Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web. And you can start using them today.

“Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web.” But apparently not good enough for iTunes and Ping? I guess those two are just add-ons then. Only available in certain countries.

Good job Apple make awesome ads.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to play Angry Birds on my iPhone. For four hours.