Who really wins with the iPhone? We'll soon find out.
Last night, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) aired a series of commercials featuring the glam device, all of which end with the refrain: Coming June 29. So ends the speculation.
Or does it? All three iPhone ads are, in typical Apple fashion, highly descriptive. One, however, adds an air of mystery. Titled "Calamari," the pitch begins innocently enough with a publicity shot for Disney (NYSE:DIS) and its flick Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. But then, as a giant squid attacks in the clip, the curious iPhoner is overwhelmed by a hunger for calamari.
Here's where the commercial gets interesting. After a pair of clicks, a Google map of the city of San Francisco appears. Sound unremarkable? It should be, except that, as one of the Fools on our Apple discussion board points out, the map appears with no prompting, as if the device already knew where it was.
Will the iPhone ship with an embedded global positioning system? Few Fools seem to think so. I agree with them. Mobile phones are already easy to track, thanks to cell towers.
Furthermore, there would be no need for Apple to disguise such an impressive feature if it really were available. (A full description of the iPhone's geekery is here. Notice that there's no mention of GPS.)
Nevertheless, speculation has already begun and shows no signs of abating. June 29 really can't come soon enough, can it?
Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know.
Disney is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick. See what other market-beating picks Tom and David Gardner have made with a free 30-day trial to the Stock Advisor service.
Fool contributor and longtime Mac user Tim Beyers won't be buying an iPhone till after his Treo 600 dies. He didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy wishes the Mac would smile again. (Sniff.)
