Why the iPhone ad ban can only be a good thing for mobile user experience

It was announced this week that Apple’s adverts in the UK for its recently-launched 3G iPhone were to be banned after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld 17 complaints finding them to be misleading.

The central issue related to the advertised speed when browsing the internet and the Maps application on the device, which Apple itself referred to as “really fast”.

It said the advert was likely to lead viewers to believe that the device actually operated at or near to the speeds shown in the advert.

With the watchdog stating: “Because we understood that it did not, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead”, what kind of reminders does this have for the rest of us in the industry?

Some may say it’s just an advert, but the banning of these widely-shown broadcasts, of such a tightly-run, squeaky-clean ship such as Apple somehow puts into question the real quality of its mobile user experience.

But, to suggest that Apple needs to fake the experience in some way need not be all bad. Furthermore, it teaches us a few things:

1. Believe it or not, we’ve still a long way to go. It’s a helpful nod to the divergence between perception and reality; between efficiency and latency.
2. Gives us all (including Apple) something specific and exciting to work towards – if a demonstration of the UI alone can be used as an advert with real public wow factor, then…
3. Reminds us that the iPhone, though arguably the best mobile user experience out there right now, clearly isn’t perfect. There is, believe it or not, room for improvement here. Browser latency aside, the 3G iPhone experience, on the whole, is a lot slower than its predecessor, for instance. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iydS0f65o2I&feature=related
4. To be honest, it brings Apple off its high horse a little. Its mobile arm will definitely take a knock from this, so competitors may feel compelled to capitalise on the situation, though they must act quickly. Nokia…show us your speedy, stripped-down UI please.
5. Heightened publicity / debate regarding the issue and importance of mobile user experience, which is always a good thing.

To summarise, this whole debacle can only be good for us mobile designers and developers. To embrace the ruling and understand that, though there is much we can all learn from the iPhone’s successes, there is perhaps more value in taking on board and capitalising from this recent failure than we first think.

In the short, medium and perhaps, dare I say it, long term, we may not be able to rid ourselves of the scourge of network latency, but we should learn that while it is ugly to wait, if you hold a person’s hand throughout the process, as long as it isn’t for too long, they will thank you for it when they arrive at their destination, both happy and reassured.