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Apple re-edits iPhone commercials due to controversy: Removes “mysterious 12th icon”

June 7, 2007 by Dr. Macenstein
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, News, Rampant Speculation

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Posted by Dr. Macenstein

Well, it looks like we may have gotten Apple’s attention when we pointed out that mysterious 12th icon a couple days ago.

Faithful Macenstein readers Rick and Cyril have noticed that anyone who downloads the latest version of the “How To” commercial will not see that infamous scene at 00:02:76. It has been replaced.

Above: In the latest version of Apple’s How To” ad, the 12th icon is now gone, and the original 11 icon view seems to be back in place.

Where Sunday night, you could clearly see a shot where there were 12 icons on the iPhone instead of the customary 11, the latest edit shows a closer, zoomed in version, and only the smallest hint of the “Calculator” and “Notes” icons visible. It also appears that the “Calculator” and “Notes” icons are back in their original placement, where in Sunday’s version, they had been pushed over 1 place, along with the “Clock” and “Settings” icons.

Above: The original shot from the “How To” ad posted Sunday, clearly showing 12 icons. Note the completely different finger placement.

So, what does all this mean? Well, while we’d LIKE to think this means Apple still has some mystery app hidden for the June 29th launch and just doesn’t want to blow the secret, our Spider Sense is now telling us that perhaps those skeptical commentators on the original story had it right; some ad exec thought the extra black space of 11 icons “looked odd” in the close-up, and figured it would “look better” with 12 icons to fill in the space. Besides, who would notice? Well, for an Apple ad exec, they certainly don’t know Apple fanboys very well!

Anyway, that is our latest theory based on Apple’s decision to re-edit the spot. It was apparently a bad decision by the team making the commercial, which led to more speculation and internet buzz on possible hidden features of the iPhone. It would seem that while Apple is glad the ads are creating such lively discussions, they do not want to get people’s hopes up for something they will not be delivering.

[Update:] Readers have pointed out that the 12 icon arrangement can still be seen briefly in the “Never Been” ad for the iPhone. Why Apple deleted the 12 icon shot from the “How To” ad but left it in the “Never Been” ad is confusing to say the least.

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Comments

13 Comments on Apple re-edits iPhone commercials due to controversy: Removes “mysterious 12th icon”

Charlie on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 12:14 pm

12 icons are still visible in the “never been” commercial…

Robert on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 12:15 pm

The extra icon can still be seen in the one closeup shot in this ad:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ad1/

Dr. Macenstein on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 12:29 pm

Thanks for the update guys. Article updated.
-The Doc

Anonymous on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 1:01 pm

The extra icon is not in the HD version.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ad1/hd.html

Dr. Macenstein on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 1:11 pm

Thanks, Anonymous, you are right. However, the shot is actually the same shot, just cropped in tighter. This may not be an intentional edit, merely a widescreen vs. 4×3 format issue. The “How-To” ad edit seems to be a different shot entirely (notice the finger placement).

-The Doc

David on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 6:01 pm

Different thumb with the 12 icons shot. They probably needed a close up shot and grabbed some execs iPhone thinking they weren’t showing it had updated features.

rottenapple on Thu, 7th Jun 2007 6:44 pm