Stating the obvious
You could argue that Apple has more right than ever to introduce a smug, haughty element to its marketing, but seasoned Apple-watchers will know superciliousness was a central pillar of Apple's marketing long before the launch of even the iPod.
While even neutrals agree the iPhone was and still is a ground-breaking and impressive piece of kit, some of the premium Apple gets away with charging is directly attributable to the sense of coolness and superiority many iPhone owners seem to derive from possessing one.
And despite sitting very much at the top of the pile right now, Apple is showing no sign of changing the tune in its TV advertising, as the latest batch of three ads, embedded below, show.
Each ad starts with the rhetorical half statement: "If you don't have an iPhone...", then demonstrates a bunch of stuff that your life lacks in the absence of one. The first details some of the features of the app store, the second talks about iTunes and the third features the iBooks store. All three then conclude: "If you don't have an iPhone, well, you don't have an iPhone."
It wouldn't be difficult to argue that other mobile platforms offer equivalent app stores, apps and services, but that would be missing a couple of points. Firstly, Apple is trying to say its way of doing these things is special, and many consumers seem to agree. But the most important point is that the other platforms just don't match Apple in terms of ad spend, and for many consumers Apple is the only one making these claims.
